Rolla welcomes many people from all over the world, from east to west. Rolla High School has the pleasure of hosting foreign exchange students from countries such as Germany, France, and Palestine. Although these students are only planning to stay for a school year at most, they hope to make a big impact on the students, teachers, and community. 

Linda Frielinghaus, a junior German exchange student, has noticed differences between RHS and her experiences at her high school in her hometown of Wiesbaden. 

“School in Germany goes to 1:00 and the teachers have to switch classrooms. You’re staying in one place, and the teacher switches all the time, so it’s pretty different here,” said Frielinghaus. 

In addition to the school schedule variances, the behavior of students and teachers in Rolla and Germany are polar opposites. 

“You can tell by the attitude that people have, it’s really different from Germany because here the people are so much nicer and more open minded. In Germany, I have to think before I do something, and here, it’s like, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll help or whatever,’” commented Frielinghaus. 

Junior German exchange student Alissa Straub notices the same differences as Frielinghaus when it comes to school dynamics. 

“They [students and teachers] have way better relationships; they talk about personal stuff which German teachers usually don’t do. So yeah, that’s different for sure,” said Straub.

  America has a variety of differences in comparison to other foreign countries. These distinctions create a challenge for the exchange students. 

“They use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. They use inches, feet, dollars. So yeah, it’s really different, and they speak English,” said Straub. 

Frielinghaus sees eye-to-eye with Straub, noting the “go big or go home” mentality Americans embrace.

“A lot of things are bigger here. All of the things like bigger restaurants, the school is bigger, more people, more events, bigger events,” commented Frielinghaus. 

To get used to the variances in America and especially RHS, both students are finding ways to integrate themselves into school events to feel more at home. 

“I really enjoyed the two football games I’ve been to so far. I love talking to people here and just hanging out after the games at Sonic, for example. And I walked in the Celebration of the Nation’s parade with my host family. That was pretty fun,” said Frielinghaus.

Rolla High School is known for their diverse choice of sports, a big change from the one or two sporting events at their schools back home. For Alissa, she found a family in tennis.
“I was in the junior varsity team and we practiced every week and had [home] games and away games. And it was just a really cool experience because I’ve never played tennis before.”

Even though the students have recently arrived here, they have solid goals in mind that they hope to achieve by the end of the school year.

“I really wanted to improve my English skills. That’s like the main reason I’m here,” said Straub.

By surrounding herself in an English-speaking environment, Frielinghaus hopes to accumulate enough experience and knowledge to complete her academic journey in Germany. 

“My main goal is to learn to speak better English just because then I can choose it in school in Germany to get graded on English to finish school,” said Frielinghaus.

Aside from academic goals, Frielinghaus hopes to leave a mark on the school and town.

“[I hope] that they invite me to their community,” said Frielinghaus.