After attending the same school for a couple years, it gets hard to imagine what other schools are like. What do different schools around the world have to offer in terms of student diversity, traditions, and curriculum? Exchange students can answer these questions for us. So what is it really like to be an exchange student?

Colin Watts (‘17) had the opportunity to travel to Germany the summer of 2016. During this month long adventure, he got to experience the authentic German culture, make new friends, and even attend school as an exchange student. Watts attended the Evangelische Mörike Gymnasium in Stuttgart where he studied economy, physics, biology, and religion. Although he enjoyed experiencing attending school in another country, it’s much different from AHS. He said the main differences were that classes were two hours long, there was less student-teacher interaction, and classroom walls were blank. Watts said, “AHS has more inclusive and welcoming classrooms.”

In Germany school is year round, students stay in one class while the teachers move around, and the teaching style is more lecture based. From those three statements, it is easy to say that Arlington High School is much different.

Neppy Trairattanathada, an exchange student from Thailand, is attending Arlington High School this year as a junior. Similarly to the schools in Germany, the students in Thailand stay in one classroom and the teachers move around. She was  nervous about being an exchange student at first because english isn’t her first language, so she was afraid people wouldn’t be able to understand her. Being her first time experiencing western culture, she said, “most people in Thailand are Buddhists and don’t celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving, so I’m excited to experience that.”

Madam Taylor takes a group of her students to Europe every few years. There is many things she enjoys about this trip. One being that the students get to experience a life changing trip that will help them see the world in different eyes. Regarding European culture and people, Madam Taylor said, “ they work to live instead of living to work. Everyone there really loves to learn. It’s not uncommon to see teenagers in the museums on the weekends and I wish it was like that here too.”