TOWAMENCIN- Meet Marina Schunemann: an exchange student coming to North Penn from Salzgitter, Germany. While at first expecting the United States to have huge differences from her home town, Marina is surprised by all the apparent similarities and the small, day-to-day differences.
Finding her niche already in the high school, Marina joined the International Friendship Club, the German Club, the Thespian Troupe, and North Penn Theatre. A participant in almost every thespian event, Marina enjoyed going to First Friday in Lansdale with the troupe the most “because we were all dressed up, it was in a smaller group, and we could talk to the people.” She also plans to travel to the Pennsylvania State Thespian Conference in early December.
Among school activities, Marina keeps busy with her host family travelling to different cities. So far Marina has visited Lancaster and Ocean City, with plans to see a Broadway show in New York around the holidays.
“They try to go every second week or something to different places. I don’t only stay here in Lansdale but [I see] a lot of different places.”
In her free time, Marina plays sports in the community and blogs about her life as an exchange student. She also confesses to reading “all the stuff nobody wants to read in school.” With a soft spot for the classics, she enjoys many different genres of books, movies, and music.
One of the biggest challenges Marina has had to face in the switch to American life is the language barrier. Realizing that simply saying “I’m an exchange student” as an excuse for not understanding doesn’t cut it, she asks for more explanation when needed and keeps in mind that it takes time to adjust.
A great difference she has found is that “it’s more specific here in everything you do – when they are in theater they are good in theater, when they draw they are really good in drawing, when they sing they are amazing singers, but in Germany it’s everything a little bit.”
Excited to continue learning new things and becoming more involved in her clubs, Marina is set for a worthwhile and remarkable year at North Penn.