RHAM Hosts Foreign Exchange Student

This year, RHAM is playing host to several foreign exchange students. One of these students, Ariana P., is a native of Germany and is visiting the United States for the duration of this school year. She's staying with a family in Hebron; this was the same family who hosted Raemi Do, an exchange student from Korea, last year.

She has said that the school systems in Germany are radically different than the RHAM system. For one thing, high school in Germany lasts five years instead of four. Also, her school had a block scheduling system, in which each class lasted longer but only met two or three days per week. As a result of this system, she had fifteen subjects instead of the seven that she has here at RHAM.

Her life so far in America has been full of challenges; she had to go through the difficult task of filling out all of the immigration paperwork and having extensive physicals. Apart from that, she's having some trouble handling the workload that American schools dish out. Since she had a few days between each class back in Germany, she would have multiple days to complete each assignment. However, with only one day to complete each assignment, she's feeling the squeeze.

However, her American life hasn't been all difficulties. She loved the Hebron Harvest Fair, which was a novel experience for her. Also, she plays tennis and runs for fun. She's also found comfort in the fact that the food culture is very similar here to the German fare. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds and Subway are common in both countries.

Despite her issues with homework, Ariana is really enjoying her American experience this far, and she hopes that it will continue to improve in the future.

To see some footage of Ariana in a classroom environment, look below.