Blue Springs South was home to six foreign exchange students.

Sophomore Berke Tarim from Turkey, junior Ayca Senbakan also from Turkey, Junior Natanaree “View” Suksomboon from Thailand, junior Lejla Coko from Bosnia-Herzegovina, junior Gianna Strobel from Switzerland, and senior Andrea “Dre” Macellaro La Franca all came to America this year.  All had similar reasons for wanting to come here; for the new experiences America would bring.

“I decided to study here because I love the United States. Coming here has always been a dream of mine, and, secondly, because I wanted to change and to experience something new for a year,” Macellara La Franca said.

There were many adjustments to be made at the beginning of the year, and many differences between their home country and here. Senbakan says some of the things that Americans say are odd.

“Sometimes when people say like “I love you” but they don’t really mean it. Or when people say “hey how are you?” but they don’t wait for you to respond so they just walk away,” Senbakan said.

Being able to be involved in school activities was different for many of the students, and some of their favorite memories came from their involvement.

“I had a lot of favorite memories. For me DECA State was awesome being with people for two awesome days. Also, I traveled to NYC, Washington D.C., and South Dakota so that was pretty awesome. Being in the high school in general because you know back home we watch ‘High School Musical’ and are like ahhhhh, and the best thing ever is Friday music because it feels like High School Musical,” Strobel said.

For Suksomboon, the ability to be open and creative was the best part.

“The thing I liked the most was that it is open and free, so I can share my ideas and share the comments with my friends and teachers,” Suksomboon said.

The experience in America is different for every student that comes here. Coko talks about her unique experience.

“I liked everything. I like my host family, I was lucky to have them. I like my friends that I gained here, and I like the school because there is so many new things that I did throughout the year and there was stuff we didn’t have back home so I tried to try new things here and that was fun,” Coko said.

One of the different things for Tarim was the way we run school.

“In Turkey we have a class and the teacher comes to the room, but here teachers have a classroom and students go around,” Tarim said.