As the 2019-2020 school year began, Amelie Lopez left her home near Hanover, Germany and arrived in Westford. Lopez is staying with junior Sam Granger and his family as well as attending WA for a full year while she is here.

Lopez speaks very good English because she’s been taking English class in Germany since about 1st grade. In Germany they also have very different class schedules, for starters they have three classes a day and long breaks in between.

“You have many different classes than in Germany, and you have shorter classes with no breaks,” Lopez said.

WA offers a lot of interesting electives like marketing, ukulele, forensic, and many others, that her school doesn’t have. Despite having all these new classes to try, Lopez said her favorite is English class. Lopez also explained how in Germany they only have three classes a day with twenty-five minute breaks in between. However, their three classes are ninety minutes long so our school days are similar in length.

In Germany they usually have little to no homework since their classes are much greater in length than our classes here, so adjusting to the American work load of homework was also a big change. Lopez mentioned how most of the homework she would have is done in class. Their work load is lighter because the classes are  longer giving the students time to finish their work.

“I was expecting that I [would] have more homework because my teacher [in Germany] told me that, and I do have a lot more homework,” Lopez said.

Lopez is excited to see all the American cities though she will miss her parents and nine year old sister. One thing she is especially interested to see is Times Square in New York City.

“I already went to Boston a couple times, and I’m going to New York with my host family,” Lopez said.

In Germany, Lopez likes to hang out with her friends as well as play handball, a very popular sport where she’s from. She also enjoys hip-hop dancing and watching soccer or football with her family.

Though she will miss her family and friends while she is away, Lopez is excited for what this year entails for her. Even though grade wise it doesn’t count for her back in Germany Lopez explained how she wants the real “American Teen” experience and is going to do all her assignments.

“It’s a very different school system, but I like it,” Lopez said.