A few new faces appeared in the hallways on Monday. For those who don’t know or just simply didn’t have an opportunity to meet those people, ADM High School is hosting some exchange students from France this week.

Pacifique who is 16-year-old girl from Avignon, southeastern part of France. She and other three exchange students are staying in Iowa for three weeks and Pacifique is being hosted by Anna Clowser, ADM High School junior.

She loves listening to music and one of her hobbies is playing the piano, which she has been doing for three years.

The first day of school is full of differences for any exchange student coming to foreign country.

Pacifique said, “You have bigger lockers here than we do in France and instead of students switching classes in my country teachers do it after every period, and then students stay in one room for a whole day.”

Students usually come to a foreign country with stereotypes or expectations in their heads, but Pacifique is really open-minded to anything new.

“I didn’t have any stereotypes or expectations when I was coming here. In fact. I really like the U.S. so far.”

It turns out, students didn’t actually choose a specific place for them to go to.

“I decided to come here because I wanted to practice my English skills. I didn’t choose where to come, the program decided that for me,” she said.

A language barrier might cause struggle for an exchange student, but Pacifique has a lot of English to help her, starting from the first day.

“I’ve been learning English for four years,”  she said.

Despite a few snow days, these French exchange students are enjoying their new school and their stay here. Take some time to get to know these people while they’re here.