By Casey O’Connor
Staff Writer
In January, Lena Brettl left her family and friends behind to travel to America, and live with a family that she had never met before.
Brettl, through an exchange program, was placed in a random home. Although Brettl could not choose her home or host family, she was able to choose the country in which she wanted to temporarily live.
“I could’ve chosen to stay in Europe or go to China, but I chose the U.S. I had learned the language and was interested,” said Brettl.
Living in Austria has given Brettl opportunities to travel around Europe. Since she has lived in Europe her entire life and has had many chances to travel there, Brettl wanted to come to America, where the culture and customs are very different.
“You hear so much about the U.S. from the movies and everything, I just wanted to come here,” said Brettl.
Many exchange students find it difficult to come to a new country where their native language isn’t spoken. Bretll has had no problem speaking and understanding English. She started learning the language in the fifth grade.
“Im getting even better [at English]. Listening to conversations makes it easier to understand now. The TV has been very helpful,” said Bretll
Unlike Westford Academy, the school Bretll attends in Austria does not give students many choices for their classes. They are required to take English, and other basic classes like history and religion. Brettl loves the freedom of picking classes at WA. Forensics and gym are her favorite.
At her school, students do not switch classrooms. Instead, they stay in the same place and the teachers go from class to class. Also, the students take twice as many classes as the students at Westford Academy.
“We have thirteen or fourteen classes, but we don’t have them all every day,” said Brettl.
The school also grades very differently. Instead of getting a letter grade, students will receive numbers 1-5. A 1 is the highest grade that a student can earn and is the equivalent to an A at WA. A 5 is the lowest grade, if a student gets a 5, they fail.
Brettl had considered attending college here in America, but decided against it because college is free in Austria.
“I’d love to go to college here but if it’s free in Austria I would waste money,” said Brettl.
While in America Brettl has found a passion for crew. She joined the spring crew team when she arrived in Westford.
“It takes a lot of my time, but I love it,” said Brettl.
Brettl hopes to continue crew when she returns to Austria. There are no school sports teams at her school, so she would be required to join a club team. In order to be on the team, she would be required to drive far on days of practices.
Brettl will return to Halbturn in June. Over the summer, she will be working on completing the work she has missed while in America.
“I don’t have to repeat the year, but I’ll have to do a lot of catching up,” said Bretll.
Allan Desrochers, a sophomore at WA, is part of the family hosting Brettl.
“At first, it is just natural to treat her like a guest and walk on eggshells a little bit,” said Desrochers. “But she quickly became a member of the family, and it just feels normal again.”
Desrocher’s sister was the one who convinced the family to get involved in the exchange program. The family has not needed to make any major adjustments and have enjoyed the time spent with Brettl.
“Although we were somewhat against it at first, we are 110% grateful that we decided to [host Lena], and we will be so sad to see her go,” said Desrochers.
