From American stereotypes to cultural differences, LHS’s own foreign exchange students have experienced a life completely different from our own. Seniors Maite Gutierrez Castillo, Mathilde Rousseau and Emily Bertollini get candid about their struggles and excitement while spending time in America.

Senior Maite Gutierrez Castillo

The city that Gutierrez once called home, is 5,248 miles away in Chile. Everything from high school to her own independence has changed since moving to Missouri for the year.

“The school is very big,” Gutierrez said. “My school in Chile is very small. In our sophomore class we only have 60 people and here there are 400 in each grade. Also, the food here is more fast food and the people speak louder than I was used to.”

While Gutierrez becomes accustomed to her new life in Liberty, her host family, senior Ashley Gunn’s family, helps guide her in the right direction.

“My host family is so nice to me and it was normal,” Gutierrez said. “It wasn’t strange for me. Maybe for other people it would be strange, as for me I’m doing well and I like them.”

Gunn has gotten to see Gutierrez’s personality develop as she gets more comfortable here.

“Coming here, Maite wanted to know more about the country and how it’s different and she wanted to make more friends here,” Gunn said. “It’s fun to have her around because it’s like always having a best friend. I can share things with her that I can’t share with my parents.”

Months after leaving her home in Chile, the excitement is sometimes dulled by remembering what she left behind for the year.

“I miss my friends a lot, my family also,” Gutierrez said. “I miss the parties that we went to, and hanging out with them. Also, I was very independent there, I could leave my house and do more things. Here I need to ask everyone about everything.”

With many popular movies depicting the average American high school, Gutierrez thought she knew exactly what to expect when she arrived at LHS.

“Everything is like a movie for me, the schools and the lockers and everything.” Gutierrez said. “We don’t have that in my country. There are some groups that are stereotypes, like the movies.”

Senior Mathilde Rousseau

Senior Mathilde Rousseau came to Liberty, Missouri three months ago from France. She said that although America wasn’t as different as she expected it to be, there are several notable differences.

“It’s not really different, but people eat dinner really early,” Rousseau said. “My first day I was like, ‘Wow why are you eating dinner at 5:30?’ Also Americans buy things in big packages.”

In order for the exchange program to work here in Liberty, there need to be host family volunteers who will agree to accommodate the students during their stay. Despite there being few, families this year have stepped forward. However, there can be some faults in the system, and Rousseau knows better than anyone.

“I love my host family, I’m really happy to be with them,” Rousseau said. “But I’m supposed to change the family that I live with for another family for right now that organization has only two. I don’t want to leave my host family, they’re super nice.”

Sophomore Grace Johannes, whose family was sought out to house Rousseau describes what made the Johannes family good candidates.

“Someone from the Rotary program knew that Mathilde was coming and did not have a home for the first section,” Johannes said. “Because my sister and I are both in French class and are teenagers at the high school, they reached out to us and thought we would be a good host family.”

Johannes has also gotten the opportunity to get to know Rousseau on a more personal level.

“When we first met her, she was quiet and nice,” Johannes said. “She is actually kind of sassy. She is still always very nice to us and is very smart.”

Like Gutierrez, a high school students life can differ somewhat in America.

“In France we don’t have the same schedule everyday,” Rousseau said. “People follow the same classes until grade 11 and then they choose a different section. I chose a literary section, so I didn’t have any math. I had a lot of philosophy, English, Spanish and literature.”

Although she misses her family, Rousseau says that she’s surrounded by amazing people who help take her mind off of it. However, Rousseau’s family took some convincing in order to let her come to America. Becoming a foreign exchange student in America is no easy task, which is why many students like Rousseau plan for years before making the trip.

“I’ve been preparing for my trip for a year, so they had time to think about it and accept the fact that I was going to leave.” Rousseau said.

The process of becoming a foreign exchange student includes filling out an application and completing vaccine records. In order for the students to be placed at a school, there must be a family willing to house the student. These families contact one of the organizations associated with the exchange program and will then be matched with a foreign exchange student of their choosing.

The struggle is worth it though, as all of this is helping her achieve her dream of becoming an international lawyer.

Senior Emily Bertollini

Senior Emily Bertollini is coming to Liberty from Rome, Italy. She says her favorite part of America is the extra activities that we often take for granted. This year she is joining the swim and track team and is currently running cross country.

“Here everything is bigger and here you have a sense of patriotism that we don’t have.” Bertollini said. “We also don’t have sports in school, so here I have the chance to do a sport that I like. The food is different. I’m from Italy so we eat pasta all of the time. America is powerful, Italy is smaller than Texas.”

Back in Rome, Bertollini’s family was hesitant in allowing her to live overseas.

“My dad is overprotective,” Bertollini said. “My mom was like, ‘yes go.’ They wanted to send me to England because it’s closer, but I wanted to come here to America.”

Speaking to the differences in high school, Bertollini said the academic differences set the schools apart.

“In Rome, we can’t choose classes,” Bertollini said. “We can choose the school, so in Italy I’m at a scientific school and here I’m taking scientific classes like physics. We don’t change classes, we don’t walk to class every hour and we have the same classmates for five years. We don’t change anything. I prefer the school system here because it’s more fun to walk to different places and you have the ability to join different sports, activities and clubs.”

Teacher Jordan Moree described having Bertollini in his class.

“Emily is quiet,” Moree said. “She is

a pretty happy student; she smiles a lot and does her homework. She is also open to sharing about her culture. Mathilde is also quiet and she is a good student. She is good about asking questions and she strives to learn about the material in class.”

Due to the difference of language in their countries, teachers have learned to adapt in order to make their transition to English easier for them.

“The way you talk in class is different,” Moree said. “Sometimes you have to use different words and slow down because they struggle with the way Americans talk. They are still processing the language, so it really teaches you to slow down your

vocabulary and not to use slang terms

because they don’t know the vernaculars.”

Counselor Gillespie, who has been

working closely with the exchange students, had a lot to say about how they’re adapting to their new lives in

Missouri.

“All of them have unique personalities,” Gillespie said. “I think it takes a pretty strong individual to be able to come to a new country alone and not know anything about the family they are going to be with and the culture. They are all very outgoing young ladies. They are strong, independent, and driven. A lot of them have big goals for after high school, so this is part of what they are trying to accomplish with their exchange program.”