In August 2022, six Europeans students decided to leave their home country to become high school students in the Pacific Northwest. They left their family, friends and routine to live a full American experience for one school year. Junior or senior, they are here to discover a new culture, meet new people and make a lot of memories.  “I think Glacier Peak is the best high school I could ask for, all the teachers are so kind, they treat us as normal people, and not the weird student from another country,” Italian Sara Liberati said.

The school experience varies from their home country, so being new and adapting themselves to the language and the school routine was a challenge. Luckily, the teachers know how to make them feel welcome. “American teenagers are open, and they talk to you and help you if you need something, but they already have their own group of friends. Basically, it’s easy to talk to people, but is harder to make real friends to hang out with after school,” Spanish exchange student Andrea Correia said.

The European school is different from here, the goal is to feel good despite the change. “I’m a Grizzly now, we are a big family, and this is so important to me,” Liberati said.

As hard as it is, being brave enough to integrate into a new school, was characterized as ‘amazing’ and ‘excellent’ according to the exchange students. The main difference they noticed is the school spirit. Andrea Correia Esteban was excited to talk about it “Our school doesn’t have any sports teams or clubs, and here the school spirit is based on them.”