The United States is one of the most common countries of choice for international students to study in.

Judson High School has had its fair share of foreign exchange students, all who have originated from various regions across the world.

Students who were born in the U.S have grown accustomed to the proceedings and events that occur within the public American school system, however, exchange students will often experience a culture shock when starting out in an American school.

From our spirited pep rallies, to our somber discussions regarding lockdown procedures, it becomes clear that Judson High School, and American high schools in general, are structured and administered differently than other schools around the world.

With this fact in mind, there’s no doubt that attending a new school in an entirely different country would be nerve wrecking, and German exchange student, junior Chiara Somerville, was definitely anxious at the start of the exchange process.

Somerville’s father is African-American while her mother is French. Her father would only let her choose between a select few countries to go to school in, fearing her mixed race would cause her trouble in more intolerant regions of the world.

With her decision to study here in the United States, though America is more receptive to diversity, her father’s fears were fueled by Somerville’s experiences with racism from her peers in Germany.

“My father said that everyone here is very racially grouped, and since I’m mixed, I was worried if I would fit in. But, a lot of people turned out to be interested in me because of my accent and because I speak French, English, and German. So far I haven’t had any problems with not being accepted, ” Somerville said.

Moreover, she found that Judson High School offered something more in terms of the classes she could take.

“I used to have 15 classes a week with at least 3 hours of homework daily. We also couldn’t choose our classes, and only had the option of adding more,” Somerville said. “I prefer that we have more individuality here; you have to do your certain requirements, but if you like more artsy or sciency things you have the choice to do those classes.”

Somerville experienced her first pep rally here, and it’s safe to say she had never experienced anything like it before.

“I kind of thought people were crazy, because if you did anything like this in Germany, people would think very badly of you. It was also very loud and I was sitting on the wrong side,” Somerville said.

Pep rallies weren’t the only thing that were unthinkable to her. Some of our safety procedures and information talked about in the beginning of the year, was something that was never talked about in her German highschool.

“On the first day I came here, in class, the first thing we talked about was what to do in a shooting, which definitely threw me off. You also can’t walk off campus, which I found weird, because back in Germany you can walk on and off campus freely,” Somerville said.

The difference between the American school system, and the German school system is very apparent through Somerville’s eyes. However, despite the new environment, Somerville is enjoying her experience here at Judson and is already getting involved, specifically through her participation in the theater program.

Somerville will be going back to Germany early in the spring semester, but she is dead-set on making the most of her time while she’s here.