Every year students travel from across the sea and experience life as a GHS student. 

“I came to America on the 23rd of July, maybe three weeks ago. I love being here. I love the mood, everybody is always happy, and everything here is big. In France, we don’t have that. People in France go to school, learn, and that’s it. But here, there are sports after school, and it’s really good,” sophomore Mahel Clouet said. 

Clouet gets to experience new activities here in America.

“I come from the west of France, which is about three hours from Paris. Here I play soccer, and I like it so far because I had never played it before I came here,” Clouet said. 

He is not having a hard time adjusting to being in Greenwood, but, naturally there some cultural shocks.

“I don’t find it hard to adapt so far. But I am good at understanding people here, but I am not so good at speaking in English, so that makes things a bit harder. This biggest difference is when my host family takes us to eat out a lot of times at restaurants. In France, we cook everything so we would just eat at home,” Clouet said.

Clouet revealed how he is managing his new school schedule. 

“I enjoy my classes a lot. My favorite class is French, it is so funny because the American French accent is so funny, but I like it. Some of my classes are challenging because I have to translate everything. So, sometimes that can be quite difficult. My hardest class is chemistry so far,”  Clouet said. 

He has not decided if he wants to stay beyond his exchange. 

“I am not sure if I will stay longer yet. I am just here for three weeks right now, but I have always known that I want to live in America, so maybe later I will come back,” he said.

Sophomore Berenice Leorat-Ruiz is an exchange student from Madreal, on the opposite side of the hemisphere. 

“I have been in America for like three weeks or four from Spain. I like coming to high school here and living in the houses because they are bigger and there are more things to do. The classes in school are calmer, and I don’t find them very challenging besides English class. My favorite is construction because I like building,” Leorat-Ruiz said. 

There is one aspect of America she has trouble adapting to so far. 

“It’s hard to adapt to the food. The food here tastes worse, and the meals are very different than I am used to. In Spain we eat more vegetables and it is healthier. I like the food here but there is less flavor and here in America we eat lunch a lot earlier in the day at like 11am, but in Spain we would eat meals a lot later at around 2pm,” Leorat-Ruiz said. 

Freshman Aberdeen Couturier shares what it is like hosting for the first time.  

“This is my family’s first year hosting foreign exchange students. I’m used to being an only child, but now I have a sister. Nothing has been challenging yet because I love Burneice;  she is the best,” Aberdeen Couturier said.