Returning from the lands of Versailles and Neuschwanstein, three Knights have now returned to North Penn’s castle.
In the 2023-2024 school year, North Penn’s own students, Reegan Burns, Lily Juska, and Marco Buchner spent their junior years studying in Bordeaux, France; Aalen, Germany; and Salzgitter, Germany.
While it’s not the most promoted program, North Penn has had relationships with multiple schools abroad for many decades.
These students have now returned for their senior year, and hope that more will follow in their footsteps.
“You have to do it if you have the option to do it like our school gives you. You have to try it if you’re interested, because it literally changed my life. I could not recommend anything more in my whole life,” Burns proclaimed.
In order to join this program, one does need good grades and behavior, but in fact, it’s not as exclusive as may be thought. In fact, even if students have never spoken a word of the country’s language, they can still be a part of the program. Buchner was planning on studying in Spain, as he already knew Spanish, but due to a change of plans ended up in Germany.
While all three of the students eventually settled into their new normal, first there was the adjustment period.
“It was a little bit strange,” Burns started. “I was living with a family that I had only Face-timed once, that I didn’t really know, but the adjustment itself didn’t take too long,” Juska noted.
Despite the difficulties and differences faced, the students felt welcomed by the people around them.
“People were really nice at school, so I made friends easily. Everybody was so nice. I know that there’s a really big stereotype about French people being mean, but I found the people there to be really nice and welcoming,” Burns commented.
The students began to miss things about home. Burns, who is in theater, and various school clubs, stated, “I really missed the fun things we have in American schools. In France, they had one dance at the end of the year, but they didn’t have football games or sports or clubs… I just feel like there’s a lot more going on in school here, a lot more after school activities and such.” Despite there not being many ways to get involved in school, outside of school Burns took archery lessons.
Besides just in regards to extracurricular activities, the school systems in France and Germany are quite different from the US.
“I would say school was probably the biggest thing that was different… In American school, you have to be here from 1st period to 8th period, and you aren’t allowed to leave, but there, if a class is canceled or a teacher isn’t there, you get to leave the school property. You can go into the city and get food or go home if you’re close enough, so I thought that was really different. And, also, grading wise they have less opportunities to earn grades. At my school, most classes had four tests, and those grades and your participation grades counted the most,” Juska recalled.
“I went to a private school there, so sometimes public schools and private schools don’t really compare, but I feel like it was really rigorous. There were a lot of oral presentations and exams and essays, and they have a huge final exam at the end of the year. Thankfully I didn’t have to take that, but it was a lot of studying. So I think it’s a lot harder there, but again it’s not public school,” Burns said.
Burns described a typical day for her in France.
“School there starts later, which was nice, so some days I wouldn’t start school until 9:00, so I’d get up around 8:00 and walk to school. I’d walk to school, I would take my classes, and around 3/4 PM, I would come back home and do homework or FaceTime with my family.”
Juska stated “Normally, I, you know, wake up, get ready for school, and then get a city bus to school from Essingen to Allen. Then, school — most days it was from 7:50-1:00 PM, and after that school day I was usually free, so I would go into the city to get lunch or go back to my house and do homework, or sleep, or sometimes I had volleyball. Yeah, there was a lot of freetime.”
Another welcome change was the attitude towards teenagers.
“I think the freedom teenagers had, it’s a little more than here. Especially because they have public transportation, it’s easy for the kids to just go out into the city, get food or go shopping. It’s just kind of more laid back there for teenagers,” Juska declared.
Walk able cities and public transportation are certainly something that they wish the US had.
“I really miss when I was there, I would just take the bus or take the tram or walk anywhere. I didn’t have to have my host family drive me everyday,” Burns commented.
The people were definitely missed as well.
“I text my friends almost everyday, and then my host family, we text every once in a while… I stay in contact a lot,” Juska said.
While not mandatory to being a part of the exchange program, many students chose to host their host siblings. This year, all three students had a mutual exchange, but in different ways. The Juskas’ hosted all three of their exchange partner’s students for two weeks each with North Penn’s bi-annual German exchange. Burns stayed with a host brother in Germany, while his sister stayed at her house in the US. Buchner’s host sister is staying with him in the US this year.
Returning home was an experience within itself.
“It was really weird at first, because since I had only FaceTimed my family for about nine or ten months, it was just so weird seeing them in person again. And coming back to school was really strange, because I was seeing all these people that I hadn’t seen in like a year, so that was really weird, but it was really nice too, I missed everybody so much,” Burns said.
“It was interesting. The weirdest thing was not seeing the people I had seen everyday for a year. I thought that was weird. Not speaking German and hearing German every day was way weirder than I thought it would be. But other than that, it just felt like falling back into the normal routine, almost like nothing had changed, but a lot had changed,” Juska said.
They are considering going abroad again.
“Definitely for traveling, like I really want to visit as many places as I can before I die obviously, like that I feel like that’s a bucket list goal, but I just think I might have to stay in the US just because I have so many family and friends here,” Burns stated.
“I would definitely study abroad in college, and maybe when I’m older I would return to Germany to work, not for my whole life, but for a couple years, I would consider working there,” Juska said.
The new language and culture weren’t the only things that they learned.
“I learned that I really want to be liked by people, but also some part of me doesn’t care anymore. I just want to enjoy my day more than worrying about other people,” Juska reflected.
“I learned that even if things are hard, you still can do it, because a lot of the stuff that I did over there I never could have imagined that I could have done, if that makes sense. Like going to a new country and knowing nobody and being without my family, I think if you asked me like five years ago, I would have said I couldn’t do it. But then, I was able to… just give yourself that little push,” Burns encouraged.
They’ve grown a lot being away for the year, and they say – go for it!
“I would say — do it. I mean, I know it’s not for everyone, but really, it’s such a great opportunity to meet new people, figure out a new culture. Also, skipping junior year isn’t so bad… I would say do it — it’s worth it,” pronounced Juska.