Foreign exchange students from different countries come to this school every year, all with expectations of America and high school. Many have expectations that differ from reality.
Matheus Lemos
São Paulo, Brazil
Expectation: The city
Expectation: Coming from a city with a population of 12 million people, Lemos is used to a bigger city with more activities much closer together.
Reality:
“I feel like I’m living on a farm,” Lemos said.
He notices that you need a car to drive almost everywhere, so when he is not at school or swim practice, he is usually at his house. In São Paulo, everything is so close together that you can use public transportation or walk to where you want to go, instead of needing a car to go everywhere.
Aroa Martin-Manzano
Madrid, Spain
Expectation: Cheerleading
American movies are often shown in other countries, so they give people an idea of high school that may not be true. Martin-Manzano thought that cheerleading was the “cool thing” to do in high school. She believed that along with the football players, cheerleaders ruled the school.
Reality:
At least at this school, no one cares that much what sport students are a part of. It usually doesn’t affect someone’s popularity.
“Okay so before coming here, I was like oh I gotta be on the cheer team, because always in the movies the cheer team is like super cool,” Martin Manzano said, “but here it’s just not a big deal.”
Lea Becker
Hamburg, Germany
Expectation: The schools
In Germany they allow no freedom when it comes to the classes that you take and what you want to learn. Becker assumed that it would be the same way when she came to America.
Reality:
The school does have mandatory classes that everyone has to take. However, there is a lot of freedom when it comes to the types of classes students take. This includes the electives, the difficulty and the amount of a certain subject.
“In Germany the schools choose what you have to learn, what classes you have, and here you can choose by yourself,” Becker said.
Gaia Battaglieri
Luino, Italy
Expectation: The food
“Food for us means family,” Battaglieri said. Italy is known for the food, so it’s no surprise that it is a big part of family life. Battaglieri is used to taking that time out of her day for preparing meals with her family and using food as a way to connect.
Reality:
In America, food isn’t often valued the same way. To Battaglieri it feels like fast food is on every corner and the people here usually don’t care too much about food, it is used just for survival. Both the health and the relationships of food are completely different in the U.S.
