Foreign exchange students share opinions of Oak Park

This year, seven German, two Norwegian, one Swiss, one Brazilian, one Chinese, one Japanese and one Finnish student descended on Oak Park High School, where they are spending either one semester or one academic year living life as an American high school student.

For these students, the process of arriving in Oak Park started with, somewhat unsurprisingly, opening their pocketbooks.

“In my program, you have to choose the country you want, like [the U.S.], and then, if you want, if you pay more, then you can choose which state you want,” Josef Hildebrandt, from Germany, said.

With the right monetary amount, the students could select more than just countries and states.

“When you pay more, you can choose the school,” Camilla Storetvedt, from Norway, said.

As for why the students chose Oak Park High School — their other options included Agoura High School, Calabasas High School and El Camino High School —they were attracted by the school’s small, academic atmosphere and the availability of extracurricular activities.

“I saw all the different sports, and the social part of the school,” Helene Vederhus, from Norway, said, “and I just got really interested because it seemed like you had a great connection [between] the students and teachers.”

The small school environment, in particular, was a strong factor, as many of the students come from small towns in Europe. For example, Storetvedt’s hometown in Norway consists of 900 people, while German Tim Kahlscheuer’s is barely larger than the population of Oak Park High School. Clara Rodrigues, from Brazil, is an exception — she comes from a city of 5 million people.

“A lot of people said, ‘don’t go to a big school because you’re not going to be able to make any friends,’” Storetvedt said.

After deciding on Oak Park High School, the students then attended several meetings, during which they were informed of what not to do in the United States.

“[We were told that you] can talk about your country but not talk about some things in your country being better than the American way,” Vederhus said.

Several students were also warned to not discuss politics.

“Everybody told me not to talk about politics,” Samuel Kniep, from Germany, said, “because, I don’t know why, maybe they hate politics, can’t stand politics or something.”

But, this rule has not held true for Ann-Carolin Brune.

“I talk with my host family a lot about politics, and it’s really interesting, because there’s a huge difference,” Brune said. “The way the political groups are [are] different, they say different things in Germany, the insurance is really different, the education system — like everything.”

When asked how student life at Oak Park High School differs from student life in their native countries, many of the European students quickly pointed to one aspect — academics.

“I really like how you structure your homework and your tests because you learn a lot more,” Vederhus said. “[In Norway] we don’t have that much homework… [There are] maybe three [tests] per semester, and they’re big. And then you have to study really hard because you didn’t have small quizzes and tests in between.”

The students saw Oak Park students unusually busy due to school as well.

“You never have time in the weekdays to do something after school. In Norway, everyone would have time for that,” Storetvedt said.

Storetvedt described Oak Park students spending their entire weekends doing homework as “crazy.”

The foreign exchange students also felt that teachers showed more interest in their students’ academic success.

“Here, the teacher really cares about whether you do your homework,” Julia Heinemann, from Germany, said. “In Germany, the teacher gives us homework, but no one does it.”

When asked about America itself, the foreign exchange students had two major observations.

The first was Americans’ patriotism.

“It just looks like you love your country so much,” Rodrigues said, “[people from other countries think Americans say], ‘we’re better than everyone.’”

The Pledge of Allegiance also struck one student as “ strange.”

The second was Americans’ politeness — something unexpected to the students themselves.

“I’m [a member of the] cross-country team, and I got one guy there who… just runs with me and asks me the whole time about Germany and what [we] eat, what’s [the side of the road we drive the car on], stuff like that. They care about you,” Hildebrandt said. “[In] Germany, as a foreign exchange student, you speak with them a little bit, but if [they] can’t speak good German, you don’t care about them.”

Brune agreed.

“People are much more polite,” Brune said. “You go anywhere and they’re really friendly, you know — ‘how are you,’ ‘everything okay’ — and in Germany, you go, for example, into a shop, and no one cares.”

The students were also surprised by something else entirely — our eating habits.

“I noticed, the people here… you eat so much,” Heinemann said.

Vederhus also found it difficult to “adapt” to the food.

“When you go to restaurants, you get this really huge portions and I don’t understand,” Vederhus said. “Such different food culture.”

If Americans’ eating habits surprised the students, American sales taxes simply aggravated them.

“You look at the product, and then you [think you] know the price, and you go [to the cashier] with the amount of money because you think it’s that much,” Storetvedt said, “but then you don’t have enough to buy it.”

Another confusing aspect to some students is Americans’ attachment to their cars.

“In China, you live in cities, and we go to school by bus, underground, or by bike. Here, you seem to be disabled without the car,” Yinuo Zhang, from China, said. “If you want to go somewhere, you have to ask, ‘Host mom, can I go somewhere?’ And it’s yes or no. If she says no, then you cannot go anywhere.”

But despite this — the interesting, the intriguing and the downright unusual of a life in Oak Park — the students agreed on this: that coming to Oak Park was, as Heinemann put it, a “good decision.”