Having to leave friends, family, and their country to study abroad and immerse themselves in a new culture is a bittersweet experience for foreign exchange students everywhere. For years Grady participates in foreign exchange student programs that allow students from all around the world to travel to Atlanta and experience the life of an American high school student.

This year, exchange students Cleo Kämmerling, Lena Albert, Carlos Alfaya, and Raryson Dantas are the few who traveled to Atlanta and attend Grady as juniors. Attending Grady for only a month, the four have already seen many differences in the culture, people, and especially the school systems.  For example, both Kämmerling and Albert describe school in Germany as having stricter teachers and being more rigorous than Grady.

“I would say school is way harder in Germany because we don’t have any multiple choice test, quiz, or anything,” Kämmerling said.

Kämmerling enjoys the fact that Grady allows their students to have more freedom in the classes they want to take.

In contrast to the German educational system, students in Brazil have the independence to choose which classes they would like to take.

“In Germany, we all have the same classes every day,” Kämmerling said. “Every subject we have is with the same group of people and you don’t change from class to class.”

Both Kämmerling and Dantas noticed that the people at Grady are a lot friendlier and more inviting than those back home, while Albert also said that the student body was more diverse than her school in Germany. Compared to her rural home in Germany, Albert also added how it was hard for her to adjust to the large crowds of people in Atlanta.

“I think the idea of learning a new culture, learning the new language, and being part of the culture is so interesting and so great,” Albert said.

Two years ago Albert first heard about the exchange program from speakers who visited her school and it sparked her interest in traveling to the United States. It wasn’t until last year she took some serious thought into studying abroad and eventually it landed her in Atlanta.

Many of the exchange students were able to travel to Atlanta through a program known as CIEE, The Council on International Educational Exchange, a nonprofit organization who provides opportunities for students who wish to study abroad and learn new cultures.      

Kämmerling talks about how she first got the idea to do foreign exchange from watching random youtube videos of student’s diaries who participated in these programs.

“I really wanted to do it so I looked on the internet and told my mama and she said no it’s expensive and I don’t want you to leave and blah, blah, blah.. whatever,” Kammerling said. “So I looked for scholarships and I found one.”

Her mom was more than happy to let her apply for a scholarship which would pay for her entire trip. After taking a history and politics test, she was one of the lucky few who received a scholarship from the German Bundestag, a constitutional body similar to that of Congress.

Although the organization that Kämmerling is apart of randomly placed her in Atlanta, she is very happy with the placement not only because she believes this is a great place to learn the American culture but especially since she describes Georgia as one of her favorite states.

Unlike the three other exchange students, Albert knew her host family so she was able to place herself in Atlanta. Even though she is excited to travel and see more of the United States over the summer, she is thrilled to be staying in Atlanta over the school year.

“I’ve always been interested in coming to the United States because I love traveling,” Albert said. “I love going to different places and learning the culture.”