Foreign exchange students reflect on life in small town U.S.A.

Two for foreign exchange students are attending Hot Springs County High School. They are both living with Dale and Ciley Andreen.

Ketaelyn Freitas

The world is a big place; it has gotten somewhat smaller through things like television, cellular phones, and Internet. Through those methods we can experience different cultures and see new places that we have never seen before.

Sometimes people are lucky enough to experience new cultures first hand. Ketaelyn Freitas is one such person. She has taken the opportunity to be an exchange student and journey to our humble town of Thermopolis.

Ketaelyn is from Brazil, four hours from the city of Rio actually. There are over 6 million people in Rio; Wyoming is just shy of six hundred thousand people. But Ketaelyn explained that she really did not suffer any kind of culture shock and that she has been enjoying all the new experiences found here.

Always wanting to be in the U.S., Ketaelyn tried to convince her parents to let her become an exchange student. Ketaelyn said it took almost two years to convince them. She told them it was only six months and she has had great grades and was very responsible, finally they allowed her to go.

Her father teaches paragliding and her mother is a housewife and she has an older sister who just recently graduated college for international relations.

It has been the view that has been one of Ketaelyn's favorite things since coming to Wyoming. She has had the opportunity to see Yellowstone and watch the trees change colors. "In Brazil there are only two seasons summer and winter, no fall," she explained. But the cold was something she was not ready for, however she is very excited for the snow. " I have never seen snow up close before," Ketaelyn said.

With an interest in medicine Ketaelyn is working towards becoming a brain surgeon. It is through her love of medicine and wanting to help people that inspired her to choose this career path.

Ketaelyn has made many friends here and when it is time for college she hopes to come back and study here in Wyoming. Wanting to inspire people to participate in the exchange program Ketaelyn said it is a unique experience.

Amira Lachheb

When Amira Lachheb applied to study abroad in the United States, she, like many others who see America from the outside, had dreams of glitzy New York or sunny Los Angeles. Amira planned on continuing her artistic rollerblading practice in California, but instead landed in one of the only states without an artistic rollerblading program: Wyoming.

"Thermopolis? Where's Thermopolis?" the Gorgeshausen, Germany native asked herself when she found out she was coming to Wyoming. "Where's Wyoming?" she said. The International Cultural Exchange Service, the program with which Laccheb came to the United States, allows host families to pick students and the Andreen family chose Amira.

"When we were coming [to Thermopolis] from Worland, one side of the road looked like Morocco, and the other half looked like Germany," she said. Laccheb, who is half Moroccan, was far from the busy New York streets or crowded California beaches she may have imagined when she was in Germany.

Laccheb was quick to note the benefits of living in a small town, though. "Here, everyone knows everyone," she said, adding the obvious inverse, "If you do something wrong, everyone in the city knows."

The benefits do not end there, though. "The spirit in school, in the whole town [during homecoming]" was an incredible experience said Laccheb. "Everyone comes to the games," she said. "When you do sports in Germany, you go to clubs after school," which means many people in the community are not invested in the team's season.

Living in Wyoming has also afforded Laccheb the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful areas in the county. She said she regularly travels with her host family on the weekend. She has seen Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and Casper among other places, and loves being on mountaintops and getting to see miles into the distance.

At school, Laccheb has been involved with cheerleading and is thinking about joining drama club before she has to return to Germany in January. She said that it is easy to make friends at Hot Springs County High School

When asked if she was excited to go home come January, Laccheb said yes and no. "My host family here is like my family in Germany," she said, emphasizing how close she has become with her American parents. Sometimes I'm a little bit homesick, but I'll be lucky when I go back." She says her mother misses her very much, and because of that she is not too worried about going home.

However excited she is to go home, she admitted that she will miss American delicacies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and macaroni and cheese.