5,114 miles was a long way away for seventeen-year-old Lisa Schacher, a foreign exchange student. Traveling from Lyon, France, to Snohomish, Washington, Schacher has attended our school for about two months now. Spending almost 10,000 dollars on her year-long exchange through the program Rotary Youth Exchange, Schacher said she “…already loves the United States”.

Although she has already been here two months, Schacher is still new to the American culture. Schacher mentioned how different schooling is between here and France. “School is much more fun than it is there. In France, I didn’t enjoy waking up in the morning and going to school. The teachers are much stricter, too. But now, I look forward to school every day,” Schacher said.

Schacher is a senior in France, although she takes a few junior classes here. She also explained her journey in learning English as a second language. “I was raised in a fluent French speaking home, obviously, but I started learning English when I was in elementary school. You learn like one word a week, but in high school you concentrate on learning English much more.” Mr. Lopez, her English teacher, said that he “…is very proud of her progress in learning to read English smoothly and fluently. I was once an exchange student so I understand how difficult it can be to fit in with a different culture.”

Schacher explained that it has been difficult to fit in with her host family because there is only a mother and a father, and no teenagers for her to connect with. “They’re really nice and sometimes their children and grandchildren come over, so that’s fun for me. But it’s still hard for me to keep up with all of the English speaking.” Schacher said that even though she has become almost fluent in English, there are many ‘slang’ words that she still has trouble with.

She also has a passion for taking circus classes, where she juggles, balancing, or acrobatics. “I started a couple years ago, and fell in love with it. I wouldn’t want to do that as a real job, but I love doing it on the weekends. And my host family totally supports it.”