Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2006, Page 56

Description: Below: Exchange student Adriana Ontiveros studies during down time in her English class. Ontiverosstayed in Bloomington for the entire school year to gain some life experience.4)(AX CU 0Culture Shock5 8By: Anna HallaganMany cultures were represented at South High School this year due to thepresence of exchange students. The students had to get used to a new atmosphere,which was not always easy. At my school, people could smoke and drink, said MartaMauri, a student from Italy, but here in America you cant and thats weird.Souths school hours seemed to take a toll on the exchange students as wellsince most countries end school at one in the afternoon. School here is a lot longer,at my other school in Germany the classes were only 45 minutes long and we endedat one, said Erland Degel, a student from Germany.But, the fact that classes seemed easier made up for the long hours. Englishis very popular and harder at my school, but here science is a little more difficult, saidOleksy Onishchenko, a student from Ukraine.The students at South seemed a bit peculiar to some of the exchangestudents. People here look a lot older and act older. They also wear really brightsparkly clothing, said Isa Lindberg a student from Sweden. People here have morefreedom to speak their minds and there were a lot more cliques at my old school.The exchange students all had to get used to something in America that theydidnt have at home. You have to be 18 years old in Italy to drive a car, and you couldcarry around backpacks at school, said Mauri. Everyone in Ukraine was more formaland polite, you just knew people a lot better, said Onishchenko.Even though some students from South were from different parts of the worldand had completely different cultures, we still managed to come together and befriends both in class and out of school.fi)Academics
Source: http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/7829
Collection: Bloomington High School South

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