This school year George Ranch High School has the privilege to host 7 foreign exchange students from Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Italy. I had the chance to get to know each and every one of them personally and see what it is like in the life of a foreign exchange student.

Mikaela Mitjonen

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Finland?

Mitjonen: Weather! It’s so much different here. We have cold weather in Finland so that will be different. And almost everything is bigger here. Like milk cans and schools.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Mitjonen: Yes it was but I know that they will be waiting for me when I go back. They all supported me to go.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Mitjonen: I text almost every day with my sister. With my parents, I have Skyped a few times since I got here 3 weeks ago. Usually they contact me through Facebook if they have something to ask.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Mitjonen: I have always been interested in other cultures and languages and I think this was an awesome opportunity to go live and study in another country.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Mitjonen: Almost, and much more!

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Mitjonen: When I heard I would go to Texas I thought of cowboys and country life right away. But it’s not really like that.

The Wrangler: What is different about the academics and overall high school life here?

Mitjonen: There are lots of activities through school that you can choose. We don’t have Homecoming or Prom in Finland.

Janis Tennstedt

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Germany?

Tennstedt: The biggest difference is the weather and the size of everything. The schools are bigger.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Tennstedt: Yeah, it was hard.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Tennstedt: Once in the last 2 weeks on Skype.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Tennstedt: I want to know the country because it is so different here and I want to know the English language better.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected it to be?

Tennstedt: Yeah.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Tennstedt: I don’t know. Nothing really.

The Wrangler: What is different about the academics and overall high school life here?

Tennstedt: The size. In Germany, there are maybe 400 students in the whole school. So here is a little bit bigger.

Birgitte Aas

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Norway?

Aas: I think the biggest difference is people are so nice here. And the weather. It is so hot and humid here! And at home it’s cold and dry. Things are also less expensive here.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Aas: This sounds really bad, but I don’t think it was that hard! But it’s because I’ve been wanting to do this for years. I just know that they will be there when I get back.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Aas: We chat on Facebook and send emails but not every day because I’m just scared that if I talk to them every day and hear their voices, I will start to miss them. Because I wanna stay here and be happy and not sad.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Aas: I just really love traveling. Me and my family travel a lot and we have gone to many places. I like new things. We have traveled to New York and Florida because I have family that immigrated there about 100 years ago.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Aas: I actually didn’t expect it to be country. I didn’t expect you to like ride around on horses or anything.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Aas: The country and like cowboy-ish. Like I’ve heard everyone would be wearing plaid shirts and riding horses to school.

The Wrangler: What is different about the overall high school life here?

Aas: We don’t have a dress code at my school, but I don’t find this school that strict.

Johanna Hellgren

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Sweden?

Hellgren: I think that people are much more open here. And the humidity. And there are a lot more rules here.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Hellgren: Well friends, no. But family like my mom and dad, I know that they will still be there when I get home. And I have my boyfriend that’s at home, so that was the hardest.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Hellgren: Every day.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Hellgren: Because when you grow up, everything is impacted by America. Everything is American. Also I do cheerleading in Sweden and I know that is a big sport here. It is a small sport in Sweden. So I wanted to do cheerleading and experience American life. I mean it is totally different from what I have been experiencing my entire life.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Hellgren: I expected it to be more country. I haven’t seen any horses yet. I also thought the accents would be different.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Hellgren: I thought all the guys would wear cowboy hats and everyone would be wearing cowboy boots.

The Wrangler: What is different about the academics and overall high school life here?

Hellgren: School in Sweden is less strict. We call all of our teachers by their first name, we can go to the cafeteria whenever we want to, we can leave the premises whenever we want to. I only had 3 periods in one day and I had a 2 hour lunch. And we have about 20 to 40 minutes between each period. We didn’t have a dress code either.

Gaya Ghezzi

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Italy?

Ghezzi: Texas is huge!

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Ghezzi: Yeah it was really hard, but I think it’s a good experience for me and for my future. So yeah, it was hard but I can do it.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Ghezzi: Once a week on Skype.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Ghezzi: I want to become an interpreter. It would be easier for me to learn English if I stayed in a place where you speak English. Also for the experience because it’s all different than Italy.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Ghezzi: I don’t know, I pictured it to look like this.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Ghezzi: None.

The Wrangler: What is different about the academics and overall high school life here?

Ghezzi: It’s all different. We spend 5 years in high school. We go to school Monday through Saturday from 8 AM to 1 PM and we have a lot of homework. Every day our schedule changes and the students stay in the same class all day and the teachers come to you. We also don’t have sports teams, we only have physical education.

Mara Niggeman

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Germany?

Niggeman: There are very many differences. It’s much bigger here, so everything seems to be more spread out.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Niggeman: Actually not. This is an experience that you will never have again in life. And it’s not forever, it’s just a year.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Niggeman: The last time I talked to them was 4 weeks ago. Now we just text 2 times a week. I don’t have much time to do anything since my days are so busy here.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Niggeman: I wanted to improve my English because I want to be a pilot. And the experience you get here is unbelievable. After just a month here and what I’ve already lived here is really great. I’ve heard experiences from other exchange students and I’m really interested in new cultures and new lifestyles.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Niggeman: I try to go in with no picture of Texas because I think you need to be open to new things to be able to get a view of things of how they really are. You shouldn’t compare your imaginations to it.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Niggeman: Germans think that Texas is like some Wild West cowboy thing but it’s not quite that. I wasn’t influenced by these things, though. I tried to stay neutral.

What is different about the overall high school life here?

Niggeman: It was much smaller. My school had 300 students, and my grade had about 70 or 60. Here every day is the same and in Germany, we had different schedules for each day of the week.

Charlotte Wiegand

The Wrangler: What are the biggest differences between Texas and Germany?

Wiegand: The biggest difference is the heat. It’s so cold in Germany. Also you drive everywhere by car in Texas, and usually I go by bike in Germany.

The Wrangler: Was it hard to leave your friends and family?

Wiegand: It wasn’t as hard to leave my family as it was my friends because they have school and homework so we don’t have time to talk. And with the 7 hour time difference it’s harder.

The Wrangler: How often do you speak to your family?

Wiegand: I Skype with my family every Sunday.

The Wrangler: What made you want to be an exchange student?

Wiegand: That’s very easy. I love different cultures. We only get to see movies from Hollywood and I want to know how it really is like to live in America.

The Wrangler: Is Texas what you expected?

Wiegand: No. I thought it was going to be very dry.

The Wrangler: What stereotypes, if any, did you hear about Texas?

Wiegand: You have at least one horse, you wear cowboy boots every day, it doesn’t rain, the boys wear cowboy hats every day, and you only listen to country music.

The Wrangler: What is different about the academics and overall high school life here?

Wiegand: We have shorter periods and school days. We start at 8 and get out at 1. We have a lot more free time and less homework, but the tests in Germany are much harder.