This year, Bellefonte gained a few foreign exchange students from various countries. Two of these students are Nicole (Nici) Schneider and Lorena Orea, who are very excited to share their experiences and impressions of Bellefonte.
Lorena and Nici are both juniors at Bellefonte High School. Lorena is a first-year foreign exchange student from Spain, and Nici is a first-year exchange student from Germany.
Lorena wanted to be a foreign exchange student because her brothers had good experiences as exchange students in high school. She later said how she felt encouraged to experience the way of life in the United States of America and learn English. Nici mentions that she signed up to be an exchange student because she always wanted to go to an American school.
Back home in Spain, Lorena is on the indoor soccer team so she is playing for the Bellefonte soccer team this year. Both girls are looking forward to being new members of the Bellefonte sideline cheer team.
Lorena and Nici are ultimately hoping to have good experiences doing things they don’t have access to in their countries, like dances, and cheering at the Friday night football games.
“What high school is like here, as well as the scenery, and the people here because everyone has been very kind to me,” Lorena said about her favorite things about being here.
Nici’s favorite thing about Bellefonte so far is the culture of the town, unlike Spain, Nici says, “my life here and in my home country is very different.”
Lorena and Nici explained that the thing that surprised them most was when we eat here.
“Lunch time here is usually 12 p.m. and at 6 p.m. (for dinner), and in Spain it is at 3 p.m. and at 9 p.m. And here, life is much busier and faster than in Spain,” Lorena said.
Nici and Lorena were asked what it was like to live with a different family, and both the girls answered with different perspectives of the question.
“It’s interesting but I really enjoy it and I’m very glad I got the chance to experience that,” Nici said.
Lorena notes that you have to be open to change.
“They may be very different from your family at home. In my case, they aren’t so different, so the change has not cost me so much. I would say that I have been very lucky,” she said.
Fortunately, both Lorena and Nici have said they are enjoying the experience of learning new cultures, and meeting new people, while living in Bellefonte and adapting to the ways of the states.
