Foreign Exchange Students

Home away from home

Foreign exchange students describe their experiences at FHS

Abby Miller milleabi002@hsestudents.org

“I just love the spirit, just like supporting each other, my swim mates, they were awesome,” Jiménez said. “Now I’m in tennis, which I’m so excited for. I think it’s going to be super fun.”

Blanche Le Guen

Blanche Le Guen is a senior from France. This year, she was a part of the FHS World Guard Team. Photo by Abby Miller.

Tom Wolkenhauer is a senior from Germany. This year he was a part of the FHS track and cross country team. Photo by Abby Miller.

Tom Wolkenhauer Foreign exchange students from Spain, Germany and France have had the opportunity to learn at FHS throughout the school year. is opportunity has let them experience a new culture and allowed them to try new activities. For all of the foreign exchange students, life at FHS has been di erent in many ways. “In Spain, we have an assigned class,” senior Laura Jiménez said. “So the students, we just stay in the class for the whole day, and then the teachers are the ones that move around school. So, I stay with 25 other students just the whole day, and then the only time we get to meet other people is during our breaks.” For senior Blanche Le Guen, who is from France, the biggest di erence between school at FHS and school in France is the school hours. In France, students are in school for a longer period of time. “We get to school [at FHS] at 8:30 a.m. and we get out at 3 p.m.,” Le Guen said. “In France I would go to school at 8 a.m. in the morning every day and get out at 5 or 6 p.m.” However, according to senior Tom Wolkenhauer who is from Germany, the biggest di erence for him is the student transportation. “Everybody here has a car, and everyone gets to school with a car or with a school bus,” Wolkenhauer said. “In Germany, you go to school by taking the train or riding your bike.” In addition to student transportation, another major di erence Wolkenhauer had to adapt to was the homework system at FHS. While Wolkenhauer was eventually able to adjust, the homework system did a ect his grades in the rst semester. “Every homework [assignment] is graded in the U.S.,” Wolkenhauer said. “In Germany, homework isn’t that big, so if you forget your homework, it’s not a big deal.” In addition to attending FHS, foreign exchange students also have the opportunity to participate in activities outside of school. ese activities include clubs, sports and performing arts. “I was really into sports,” Jiménez said. “I swam in Spain and played tennis. Here, sports are way more di erent and more competitive, so I really liked that because in Spain, I don’t know if I’ll ever get that opportunity.”

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Since sports are a little di erent in the United States, they have been one of Jiménez’s favorite activities. “I love the spirit, just like supporting each other, my swim mates, they were awesome,” Jiménez said. “Now I’m in tennis, which I’m so excited for. I think it’s going to be super fun.” However, for Wolkenhauer, who is currently running for the track team and ran cross country, the practice schedule was something that he had to get used to. “It was a little bit of a shock for me that we had practice every day of the week and then I had a meet on Saturday and then also a practice on Sunday,” Wolkenhauer said. “In Germany, we only have practice two times a week.” Similar to Germany and Spain, according to Le Guen, extracurricular activities are also di erent in France compared to FHS. “In France, school and your activity are separated,” Le Guen said. “At school, you only study, and then you get out of school and then you have your club outside of school. So, you can be in the club with people from all schools.” In addition to being immersed in a new culture and participating in new activities, foreign exchange students are doing all of this in a second language. However, according to Jiménez this has not been an obstacle. “I started to study English when I was three years old as well as German, so I’m trilingual,” Jiménez said. “I guess once you start really young, it’s way easier because you kind of have the basics when you are younger.” However, despite learning the language from a young age, there were still some language gaps that Jiménez experienced when she came to FHS. “I learned British English,” Jiménez said. “I started saying trousers and people were looking at me weird because here you don’t say trousers.” While the foreign exchange students will eventually be leaving at the end of the school year, for Jiménez, the experience at FHS has been a positive one. “Being in the school, people are so kind to each other,” Jiménez said. “I really like it in general.” Senior Laura Jiménez smiles at her teammate junior Megan Parker at the FHS mudsock meet on Jan. 7. Photo used with permission of Jackie Stein.

Laura Jiménez

Laura Jiménez is a senior from Spain. This year, she was a part of the FHS swim team and tennis team. Photo by Abby Miller.

3 This map represents the countries that each of the foreign exchange students are from. From le to right the countries are: Spain, France and Germany. Graphic by Abby Miller. 1. The French ag. 2. The Spanish ag. 3. The German ag. Photos used with permission of Creative Commons license.