Exchange Students on the American High School Experience
This fall, Roosevelt High School welcomed several foreign exchange students to its halls including Giulia
Paoletto and Carlotta Pierpaoli from Italy, and Ona Bielsa from Spain.
Having first arrived in August, the last few months have been a culture shock in some ways. “It’s fun,”
Paoletto said, “It’s very different from Italy; the school is very big.”
Both Italian students remarked on the differences in scheduling between the schools, “We in Italy have
school only during the morning — where [as] here it is all day,” Paoletto said. Pierpaoli added that school
on Saturdays, which is common in Italy, doesn’t exist in the United States.
Bielsa also mentioned differences between American and Spanish friend groups, “I feel like everyone
here [already] has their own group, and they just go with their own group and they are very close.”
Due to the layout of American cities, Bielsa noticed another barrier, “I think it’s easier to meet people in
Spain or Italy, and we have more opportunities to meet new people from other places from far away.”
Bielsa continued, “It’s not as compact. Here, you always have to have a car, and if you don’t have a car or
a license it’s more difficult.”
Because of this, Bielsa’s had to develop ways to meet new people including finding some success in
sports. “It’s a great way to meet people,” she said.
The social aspect of football games is another contrast from their life at home. “A very big thing [here] is
football games,” said Paoletto, “We in Italy don’t have football, so it’s very different.”
According to the three students, many of the assumptions about American schools made by Europeans are inaccurate.
“Everyone says that here school is very easy,” said Bielsa. “It’s different, but I wouldn’t say
that it’s easier because we still have a lot of homework. It really depends on the subjects you take.”
Pierpaoli added, “In the movies, we always see there’s a group of popular people … they’re really mean,
but I never saw this here, … people are really, really friendly and open-minded.”
This sense of culture isn’t limited to students, Bield said, “I feel like everyone here can go with what
clothes they want, and teachers are more open to students.”
By and large, Pierpaoli would recommend the experience of an exchange program “one thousand times,
yes.” But, she emphasized, “You [just] have to be aware of the experience you’re going to have. Most of
the time you might be homesick and school will be difficult. You just have to be aware that not
everything will be as good as you think.”
Both Paoletto and Bielsa indicated that social media plays a big role in this, stating, “TikTok and social
media, they just show the beautiful part of the experience.”
“It’s a very good experience and you have sad moments,” Bielsa concluded, “But that’s normal, and I
think the sad moments are when you grow as a person.”
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