With a new school and new people, changing schools can feel foreign to new students. For exchange students, it is exactly that.

“It’s strange to feel like an outsider but at the same time it’s so good because you feel like you are such an outsider that you can see everything from the outside,” senior Madalena Marques said.

Marques is one of seven exchange students this year. She came from Lisbon, Portugal and traveled to the United States with the American Field Service. Marques will be spending her entire senior year at PHS.

“I’m still adjusting,” Marques said. “I’ve only been here for a few weeks.”

Marques arrived in the States in August. She spent two days at an orientation camp with other exchange students from all over the world before meeting her host family.

“I really like [my host family],” Marques said. “They are really open and caring with me.”

Sophomore Ruth Althammer came from Munich, Germany with the Program of Academic Exchange. She said that her host family is also German, which makes the transition slightly easier for her.

“We speak German and English,” Althammer said. “It’s a bit weird because sometimes my host mother changes the language in the middle of the sentence but it feels good to have the possibility to speak German.”

Unlike Althammer, many exchange students do not share the same native language as their host families. Senior Arianna Barbieri came from Bologna, Italy, and said the language barrier has been her biggest challenge.

“People talk very fast and I feel alone,” Barbieri said.

The language barrier not only makes communication challenging, but it also makes schoolwork more difficult as well.

“It’s really hard to understand the language and I’m reading Shakespeare,” Marques said.

English teacher Rosie Reid teaches the English Learning Development class (ELD) for students whose first language is not English. The class aims to help students improve their English, provide them with homework help and serve as an environment for them to bond with other foreign students.

“Piedmont’s a pretty hard school,” Reid said. “[Exchange students] are thrown into very rigorous academic classes and expected to survive, like a sink or swim type thing.”

Althammer said she dropped biology in favor of a free period because the homework was too time consuming.

“I did [biology] in Germany,” Althammer said. “ Here, I would spend the most time on it because of the language so I dropped it.”

Barbieri, who knows former exchange student Andrea Marec from back home, said she often consults him when she has questions because he knows what it is like to be an exchange student in Piedmont.

“I know Andrea and he helps me a lot,” Barbieri said. “I am very excited for this new experience.”

Reid said students who have spent their entire lives in Piedmont schools do not realize the challenges exchange students face. Along with the difficult work load, the social atmosphere can also be very intimidating to exchange students.

“The biggest thing I think you can do is to include them,” Reid said. “You guys are doing things all the time, invite them to take part.”

Despite challenges, exchange students still find time to become involved in extracurricular activities. Marques and Althammer both run cross country. Marques said she notices that sports are much more prevalent here than in Portugal.

“Here the sports are super important,” Marques said. “It’s the way you make friends and in Portugal we don’t really have school sports.”

Althammer said her favorite memory so far has been going to San Francisco with Marques and other girls from the cross country team.

“It was really fun, shopping,” Althammer said. “It’s a city, like Munich. It’s nothing new for me.”

Marques said she enjoys the interactive learning model at PHS.

“I love the way you learn with a lot of activities,” Marques said. “In Portugal we are always writing and the teachers are talking.”

Barbieri, Marques and Althammer agreed that they enjoy Piedmont’s environment. Marques said that so far, people have been warm and welcoming to her and the other exchange students.

“Even if sometimes it’s kind of hard, things take time,” Marques said. “I’m willing to give it time.”