What is it Like to be an Exchange Student?

Fabian+Liebing%2C+11th+grader

Brianna Vilatoro

Fabian Liebing, 11th grader

Lake Ridge High School has many foreign exchange students from all around the world. Some Eagles get the privilege of knowing and becoming friends with them. From their arrival, their views of school in America, and reasons for coming, will give you distinct answers.

Arriving in New York from Burgstaedt, Germany last summer, Fabian Liebing is a foreign student came to Texas in August. In the Big Apple, he and the other exchange students learned about American stereotypes and what to do in certain situations while being here in U.S.

Liebing came to America wanting a new adventure and to gain confidence. He loves risks and adventures.

“You experience a lot, and you change in a better way,” said the blonde-haired, blue-eyed junior. “You get more confidence, which is one of my biggest goals in coming here.”

His school in Germany is much different from schools in Texas, he said. Lake Ridge students choose what courses to take, but students in Germany cannot choose classes until their junior year. Also, the teachers here are more personable according to Liebing, and they are more than just here to teach you a subject but to help you personally.

In Burgstaedt, there are only about six hundred students in the entire school, as opposed to Lake Ridge High School with enrollment of nearly twenty-three hundred, according to Liebing.

His favorite part of being here in the states is that he is always going somewhere and doing something.

“It doesn’t matter what day is is, I’m busy everyday,” Liebing said.

He loves the fact that he can talk out and be more like himself in the U.S. Fabian says, that is the best thing about living in America.