Hamilton’s 2024-25 Foreign Exchange Students!
Photos submitted by Loit.
McKenzie Mamayek
Each year, Hamilton welcomes a few foreign exchange students to Wisconsin for the opportunity to visit the United States and learn within our school system. This year, we have welcomed two new exchange students: one from France, and another from Spain. To help introduce them to our community, and get to know them, I asked them to answer a few questions about themselves, and their perspective as an exchange student living in America.
Our first exchange student at Hamilton this year is Johanne Loit!
Johanne Loit
What country are you from?
Hi, I'm Johanne. I'm from Paris in France.
What grade are you in?
I’m a senior this year.
What sports/activities are you in?
In France, I go horse riding and I go to the gym. Here I don't play sports, but I would like to go skiing this winter.
What kind of music do you like?
I like all styles of music, but I really like Taylor Swift.
Do you have any siblings or pets?
N/A
What is your favorite place to visit in your country?
I live right next to Paris, so I love going there with my friends. I also really like other big cities like Bordeaux or Nice.
What do you miss most about home?
I miss food a lot!!!! I miss my friends and family, too.
What do you love/hate most about American food?
American food is good, I really like the fries and burgers here, but it's very fatty. I'm not a fan of the cafeteria food.
What were your first impressions of Wisconsin?
I arrived at the end of summer and the weather was still very nice, so I really liked it, and I really like all the lakes.
What were you most looking forward to when coming to America?
I really wanted to discover the periods of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, because in France we just celebrate Christmas and a little Halloween, but it's very different from here.
What are the major differences between school here and your home country?
Times are very different. In France, classes start at 8am and end at 6pm and the times are different too. We don't have the same classes every day and we have between 5-8 different classes per day.
What was the biggest surprise/culture shock when you came to America?
Meals are very different. In France there are no real snacks and we eat at set times, 7am, 12pm, and 8pm.
1 to 5: Photos of Johanne’s family, parents, and her sister and her fiancé.
6 to 8: Photos of friends and Johanne on the terrace (it’s not a legend, Parisians are on the terrace a lot!).
9 to 13, 21: Vacation with friends.
14 to 18: Landscapes.
19 and 20: Holidays (because we party a lot in Paris!).
22: Johanne during the Olympics.
23: Johanne’s host family.
Our second exchange student this year is Ruben Feria-Gomez!
Ruben Feria-Gomez
What country are you from?
I’m from Spain.
What grade are you in?
11th.
What sports/activities are you in?
Rock climbing, drama club, DECA, and I will join track and field.
What kind of music do you like?
I usually listened to English music, but now that I'm here I started to listen to Spanish music. I like rock, pop, trap, and sometimes jazz and old music. I like a wide variety of music.
Do you have any siblings or pets?
I have two older brothers. They were here too at my age, and some teachers know them. I also have 2 cats.
What is your favorite place to visit in your country?
I live in Ronda, Malaga. This is a very good place to visit, especially the center because it has a ravine called “El Tajo” (the gash) with a bridge crossing it.
What do you miss most about home?
Probably my friends and family, but if I had to say another thing it would be the ease of transport. I can go anywhere I want in my city by walking without depending on anyone. Here, since I can't drive because of the program, my opportunities to do stuff are reduced due to depending on other people who have a car.
What do you love/hate most about American food?
One thing I don't like is that healthy food is more expensive than junk food. The thing I like is the variety of things and flavors that we don't have in Spain. There are also a lot of differences with food additives and preservatives. Fun fact: Mountain Dew and Gatorade are banned in Europe. Also, our Fanta is yellow instead of orange because it is made with real juice.
What were your first impressions of Wisconsin?
It is a good place, very calm, but still so different from my Spain.
What were you most looking forward to when coming to America?
I want to learn English and make videos on my experience. I have a project on my TikTok account. I'm posting a lot of things there (rulfy__23).
What are the major differences between school here and your home country?
Schools look like prisons. I don't really know why people complain about school, this is heaven compared to Spanish schools. Subjects are also much more difficult and you can’t use notes for tests, you have to learn things by heart.
What was the biggest surprise/culture shock when you came to America?
There is a completely different lifestyle. I feel like life here is too “chaotic.” It is not a bad thing, it's just I'm not used to that. There are too many things happening at the same time. Also, I found something interesting when purchasing things. I was talking about this with my brother, who is licensed in Marketing and SEO. He told me that it is much more difficult to sell something to a European than to an American. Most Americans spend money more easily than Europeans. A Spaniard would spend a few days thinking before buying something, the average American would think: “Why should I wait?” I think it is curious…
