Few are willing to take big risks and move completely out of their comfort zones — let alone their countries.

This year, 15 exchange students from all over the world did just that and ended up at Oak Park High School.

The exchange student application process is long and involves a lot of paperwork, interviews, and a trip to the main office. Each student needs to be accepted by his or her company.

These students are from seven different countries: Germany, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy and China.

“It has always been my dream to experience something like this,” Marcia Maurer, a junior from Germany, said.

This was a common thought from the exchange students. Many of them said they wanted to experience something different from what they would typically expect in their home countries.

“I wanted to improve my English and experience a new culture,” Robin Wolter, a junior from Germany, said.

While many exchange students expressed that they wanted to learn more English, leaving home also came with difficulties.

“The whole exchange is challenging. Getting a new family, a new language, new people and everything is new,” said Amanda Romero, a senior from Brazil.

It has not been easy for the exchange students to live in a new country with a different language and different people. The hardest part? Doing it alone.

“Just to be independent is not easy. You have to learn how to solve problems on your own – and just being alone is challenging,” Maurer said.

Oak Park High School decided that this year they wanted to welcome the exchange students even more, and created a class specifically for the exchange students. The teacher in charge for this is English teacher David Kinberg.

“I loved it, and I learned a lot about the different cultures in the room – something that I learned about was the school system in other countries,” Kinberg said.“It was something I found very fascinating.”

The class will hopefully be offered next year, too. With this in mind, this year’s exchange students each wrote a letter of advice to next year’s exchange students.

“My advice for future exchange students is to be open and enjoy everything,” Romero said. “And take every chance you possibly can.”