For two weeks every two years, students at Gretna High School are given the opportunity to host a German exchange student. One of those students is sophomore Sawyer Long, hosting Bengt-Jonas Sander. Alongside eight other students high schoolers hosting German students, Long provided Sander with the full American experience for the two weeks he was here this month.
“My sister had done it before, when she still lived in the house at that time, so I had got to know him pretty well,” Long said. “It was a very fun time, and I figured, ‘Why not?’ I want to make the most out of this high school experience.”
Sander said he knew he wanted to be a foreign exchange student for a while since his mother had been the teacher involved in the exchange program for quite some time. Eager to experience other cultures and ways of life, he signed up for the program.
“I mostly looked forward to experiencing the American way of living and how the school system works,” Sander said. “I hope to get to see more of these differences.”
While the German students spent two weeks in the United States, the host students and families were tasked with summing up the entire American experience in that short period of time. They also experience the day-to-day life of the typical American student at GHS.
“We’ve gone sightseeing so far,” Sander said before he left. “Here, I’ve had a lot of good food, and most of my classes are very fun. I like my small engine class and engineering design. Chemistry is alright.”
While being a foreign exchange student is a once-in-a- lifetime experience for the German students, it is also beneficial for the host family in their knowledge of other cultures and the differences between their lives and others.
“Introducing him to new stuff and seeing the differences in cultures has been really fun,” Long said. “We watched Jeopardy with him, and it’s interesting to see the stuff he does know and the stuff he has no idea about.”
Gretna junior August Hardies also hosted a German exchange student for the duration of the two weeks. Hardies hosted Philipp Horn, effectively giving him the American experience that he could only dream of before. This was the first time Hardies hosted a foreign exchange student, and the first time that Horn came to America to learn about the culture and daily life.
“My mom did a semester in France, in college, as an exchange student,” Hardies said. “So she really wanted me to experience hosting a student. I thought it would be fun just to see the difference in culture and meet new people along the way.”
Many of the German students said that they missed Germany over the couple of weeks in the USA. Most lamented that they missed their family, pets, friends, and their way of life back home. Nevertheless, they each enjoyed their unique exchange experience. Each one gets the chance to take what they learned, did, and experienced back to their home country.
“I would definitely recommend (becoming an exchange student) to anyone who gets the chance to use it,” Horn said over email. “It was such a good time, and there was absolutely nothing I could say I didn’t like. Everyone in my family was nice to me, and also the people I got to know at Gretna High were all chill and nice.”
The German students are gone now, back home in Germany with their friends and family, but the lasting impact they made on their host families, friends, and the entire school community cannot be erased.
