From stepping outside the KCI airport at 2:30 pm on August 10th to smelling and feeling the breeze of the warm air, senior Eva Tschurtschenthaler decided to spend the year away from her hometown in South Tyrol, to instead, spend her time in America. Walking down the hallways of her first day at a giant, new school, with blurs of hundreds of new faces and strange slang. Feeling overwhelmed and nervous, the halls buzz with energy, sneakers squeaking in the hallways and laughter echoing. The voices of students greet and welcome her into this whole new environment. She said it felt scary at first, but soon realized that it’s not lonely, and those strangers from every corner soon become thrown together and blend in. All fitting and belonging. The best part of her whole experience.

   Beginning of the Experience 

   “My favorite but most challenging part at the same time was just stepping out of my comfort zone and having to meet so many new people,” senior Italian student Eva Tschurtschenthaler said.

    Tschurtschenthaler was interested in visiting America to really fulfill the “American high school dream.”  Even when she was a little girl. All the school spirit, football games and adventures American high school seemed to offer really piqued her interest of kids all the way on the other side of the world. 

   “Moving here was very nerve-racking at first. The biggest shock was how big and confusing the school was, and learning my way around was challenging. However, finding a good group of friends to attend football games, lunch, and homecoming with made it so much better. My friends really helped me show my way around, which was great,” Tschurtschenthaler said.

   Host Families 

   The first event foreign exchange students complete is meeting their host families, where they experience a new culture, food, etiquette, and a whole new environment. 

    “My host family is incredible. I’m really happy with my host family. They help me try different foods and encourage me to go to as many new events as I can,” senior Hugo Exposito Lopez said.

   To get a host family interested, kids from all over different countries have to record their own video talking and introducing themselves, to which a family will pick them out on the website and take an interest in them from that video. Then they chat back and forth until both decide that this would be a good fit based on the interests the kids share and their personalities shown over the screen. 

   Starting School

   Senior Hugo Exposito Lopez was born in Spain and is on the high school band team. He plays the saxophone back home and has a strong passion for music. He’s 15 years old, and technically supposed to be a sophomore, but all foreign exchange students here are seniors, so he’ll be graduating this year and get to participate in all the senior activities. He loves learning how American football works, and his host family shows up to almost every game to watch him play music on the field.

   “Be open-minded because there’s going to be a few things that are different from your country. But it’s definitely worth it to experience,” Lopez said.

   The schools are way bigger than what the foreign exchange students are normally used to as well. Compared to around 200 students at Lopez’s old school, there are now 2,000 kids here with multiple floors and a lot more classrooms. The schooling here offers way more in-depth classes and opportunities than what Spain has to offer.  

   Trying new things

   Sports here are a big difference as well. The United States takes sports a lot more seriously and with more hype compared to other countries. Almost all of the other countries don’t even get to have widespread high school sports teams. So that means a lot of foreign exchange students here are trying to be involved in as many sports and clubs as possible.

   “I have really enjoyed playing tennis on the school team here because all the girls and the coaches are amazing. I also like the school spirit and the football games. In Germany, we don’t have something like this because we don’t do school sports; instead, we play for a city sports club.” Senior Charlotte Weber said.

   Weber loves her host family and siblings, and after high school here, she still has three more years of schooling until she plans to go and study at a university in Germany, still undecided on which one. Her mom also got the opportunity to be a foreign exchange student when she was Weber’s age, and she also loves traveling and learning more about different countries, so this was something Weber has always had an interest in.

   “The best thing you can do is learn a new language, meet a lot of new people, make new friends, and get a second family. I would say you should just do it—it’s not as hard as you think. You just have to be open and like to try new things.” Weber said.

   The journey of a foreign exchange student has a lot of things to offer, especially personal growth and adaptation. These students learn how to become more independent and adjust to a whole new life. Always open to trying new things and even facing there own challenges along the way with all the adjustments.