Did you know Liberty has foreign exchange students? We have three different foreign exchange students, two from Germany and one from Spain. All three girls tell how two of the biggest differences between their homes in Europe are the food and the use cars.

Charia Gunther

Charia Gunther, 16 years old, lives in Tamm, Germany. Charia explains how her school back home is much different in many ways.

“My school back in Germany, I think, only has 400-500 students and we have no middle school. We have 1st-4th grade and 5th-12th,” Chaira said.  

She has 6 hour school days from 7:50 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. Also, she has the same students in every class. The classes switch teachers but not students.

“When I first got here everything was crazy,” Chaira said. “I couldn’t find my class because in Germany, we only have 400-500 students for six years.”

Chaira goes home for lunch everyday and eats the lunch her mother cooks for her.

Chaira tells how the first few weeks were a lot harder and she was much more homesick but as the weeks go on and as she makes more friends and living her gets better.

Chaira is getting more adjusted to living here but her first few weeks were rough, like on her first week here when she woke up for church at 2 p.m., hours later than she was supposed to because of the 7 hour time difference.

Isabel Alonso-Marques

Isabel Alonso-Marques lives in Spain. She is in 11th grade and is 16 years old. Isabel says the United States is much different from Spain including the culture, food, clothes and lifestyle overall.

She says the food here isn’t quite as good as the food back home because of the unhealthiness.

“We eat more natural food and vegetables. I live near the sea and even if you live in the more interior of Spain it’s still healthier,” Isabel said.

Isabel really likes Liberty and says it’s much different from her school back home. Isabel likes how nice the teachers are and how we get to pick our classes but, she says the education itself is different.

“We memorize more, we don’t do as much practice as here.”

She explains how Liberty is much newer and in Spain they don’t have Smartboards and Chromebooks but, chalkboards and textbooks instead. Isabel also really likes how we get to pick from a variety of classes and have clubs and sports.

Fabienne Lange

Fabienne Lange is a 16-year-old and is in 11th grade. She lives in Berlin, Germany and is so happy with her life here in the United States so far. Fabienne isn’t homesick and adores her family she is staying with.

“I like everything about them,” Fabienne said. “They are similar to my family in Germany, they are so friendly.”

One of the biggest differences Fabienne has noticed between her home country and the United States is the use of cars. You have to be at least 18 years old to drive back in Germany. It was very strange for Fabienne to see how much we use cars. Back in her home, everyone rode bikes, and walked. Everything such as stores and restaurants were much closer, which required less driving.

“Everybody takes the bus or the train or a bike,” Fabienne said. “Nobody uses a bike here, in Germany everybody used a bike, more than half of my school used a bike. That was very different.”

Fabienne says her whole school system back home is a lot different because they do not get to chose their schedules.

“We have 14 or 15 different subjects and we have to take all of them,” she said.

She also tells how math is very easy for her because everything we are learning now she had learned 4-5 years ago. She says everyone back home brings their lunch to school because the school lunches aren’t very good and our school lunches are better but, not by much. Fabienne used to have to eat her school lunch outside everyday, even in the very cold and hot weather, she says how she for sure doesn’t miss that about Germany.

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