Joon Bang

Walking through the halls of a new school, he felt completely isolated, despite the efforts that others made in communicating with him. The new student wanted to reply, but words failed him when he needed them the most.

“The first time I moved, I was really lonely, and it was hard not having friends. I felt trapped in my own world, and there was no one that I could talk to because I couldn’t really communicate since I didn’t know the language,” sophomore Joon Bang said.

He moved to the United States in late September 2014 and attended Parkway North for a year before coming to West. This was his fifth move after traveling more than 13 countries and cities in his lifetime.

“My dad is always seeking new possibilities. He thought that in the U.S. he could find something new and more interesting than we already had in the Netherlands,” Joon said.

When Bang first found out that he was moving again, he was upset because he knew that he would once again have to leave the community and group of friends that he had fit into.

“I knew that if I came to the U.S. I’d have to make new friends, and that I’d miss my friends in the Netherlands. But when we moved to the U.S., we were exposed to new culture and continue to see things that we’ve never seen before,” Bang said.

Although he has enjoyed his experience at West, he has attended other schools where the students were not as friendly.

“When the teachers asked me questions, I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know how. People would laugh,” Bang said. “It was not really bullying to them, but it was really brutal to me.”

Bang only had a month to learn English before coming to America. After he arrived, he had to learn the rest all on his own.

“The students were really friendly, and they tried to talk to me. They tried to say ‘hi’ and ask where I’m from, but I didn’t know how to answer that, so I just froze up. I knew what they were trying to do, but it just felt like they were speaking some language that doesn’t exist,” Bang said.

Alongside the difficulties he had communicating, he could not comprehend class material during his first semester. Bang said that he faced obstacles, but that everything he endured when moving city to city was worth it. However, there is one thing that he truly misses.

“In the Netherlands, they have the best cheese. If you’d ask me, not America or Germany has better cheese,” Bang said. “If you want some good cheese, go to the Netherlands.”