NEDERLAND - In the scope of the world, Nederland is incredibly small, and yet such small places are often bigger than life. By the grace of the people who live here, this town transcends many boundaries and can leave a bigger impression on a person than some of the largest cities and most iconic landmarks.

As part of the ASSE International Student Exchange Program, 16-year-old Hripsime Vartanyan came to Nederland from Ninotsminda, Georgia. In her time here she fell in love with skiing, conquered fears by speaking to Colorado lawmakers at the Capitol, and met those who would become like a second family to her. 

Kim Stedem of Vartanyan's host family immediately felt a connection, as the two got to know each other through volunteerism, and bonded through a love for helping others and being involved with their community. 

Over the last year the duo could be seen volunteering at the Nederland Farmers Market, the Holiday Mountain Market, local food drives, and school functions. At the Nederland Community Library (NCL) Vartanyan assisted in the Reading Across Borders sister library program by boxing children’s books to send to Ninotsminda. 

Vartanyan, in her interview with The Mountain-Ear, explained how children in Georgia learn four languages, including Armenian and Russian, sometimes by the time they reach primary school. The books she sent back home would be used to help children learn English.

“You just learn them when you’re born, and by the time you’re four you know English; it’s way easier to learn when you’re young than when you’re older.”  

The protection of books and the right to freedom of speech, and to freedom of information, are topics that Vartanyan takes quite seriously, which she demonstrated by speaking before Colorado legislators about the dangerous precedent of banning books.

She visited the state Capitol building in Denver along with fellow Nederland students, in a trip organized by the NCL. Vartanyan said that though she was nervous at first, the importance of the issue at hand was what helped her to deliver her speech. 

“In my home country, school libraries have always been a calm and welcoming place where people go for education and support,” Vartanyan's speech reads. 

“When I first heard about books being banned in the US for different reasons, I was really confused.

“In Georgia, several years ago, when my parents were children, access to books was somewhat limited due to the influence of the Soviet Union. As I was growing up, my parents made significant efforts to provide me with access to the books necessary for my education. I am glad my parents provided me with the books that educated me and taught me about the world and history.”

As we talked, Vartanyan expressed how Ninotsminda was a small town, much like Nederland, and that the first major difference she noticed between the two cultures was how the American school system operates. 

She also remarked how at first Nederland Middle-Senior High School seemed so big, but the kindness of her fellow students and the friendships forged soon made the school seem not so dauntingly large. 

“That’s the cool part, because now I know everyone and everyone knows me.” 

Thanks to her friends at school and to her loving host family, Vartanyan experienced new sports, like basketball and volleyball, in her time here in Nederland. She also got to travel and see much of Colorado. She also visited other parts of the country, including having the opportunity to experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

In addition to bolstering Vartanyan's love of exploring new places, Stedem also helped to foster her interest in skiing, which propelled Vartanyan to becoming more experienced than most in Colorado’s favorite pastime. 

“My host mom taught me how to ski, and I really love it now,” Vartanyan said. “We skied at Eldora and Copper Mountain, and by the end I was skiing the blacks and blues, and I’m so happy.” 

“She’s killing it, just racing down blacks,” Stedem said. “So now she’s very excited because she gets to go home where her dad has always been the only skier, and therefore the best skier.”

Stedem added that Vartanyan can’t wait to test her father’s skiing skills. 

Before Vartanyan returns to Georgia, she’ll be visiting New York City for the first time this summer with the Stedem family. As excited as she is to experience the metropolis, she will greatly miss Nederland, as well as her host family, her second family, though she knows that she will see them again. 

“Thank you for being so nice to me,” Vartanyan said, when asked what words she’d like to share of her experience in Nederland. “Everyone I met was so helpful and supportive…just thank you.”

“I’ll miss some of the school sports; I enjoyed them so much,” Vartanyan continued, remarking how they do not have a girls’ volleyball team back home. “And also I’ll miss Eldora, and going there every day.”  

“I know I will miss them,” Vartanyan said about her host family, getting somewhat quiet. “I think we’ll still somehow meet each other; either I will visit them or they will come to Georgia and visit me, but they’re my second family now. I really love them.”  

Stedem, talking about the memories created with Vartanyan, refers not only to the big moments, but also to the smaller moments, like sitting at home and showing her movies she’d never seen, or food she’d never had before.

“We have a daughter and they have a sister forever now,” Stedem said about herself and her children and their feelings for Vartanyan. “We adore her and her family, and she’s taught us to appreciate the new experiences as they come, because you never know, they could turn out to be the best thing ever.”  

And as much as the Stedems impressed upon Vartanyan a little bit about not only American life, but Nederland life, she helped to open their minds, too.

“You can meet people in your community but you don’t really see another culture like when you live with someone from another culture. Different foods, different beliefs, different holidays; they get to experience our culture but then I get to ask them and experience theirs.”  

The benefit to having such an open-minded community is that it allows us the opportunity to truly experience other cultures, to invite others into our homes, show them our small corner of the world while also learning about theirs. In that cyclical connection we are no longer strangers, but in becoming friends, we become family.