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How far have you traveled? Have you lived in Bellwood your entire life? You could have moved to the Bellwood area from a nearby place or from across the country, but what about from a different country?

Could you be away from your family and everything you know? Would you take the opportunity to be an exchange student?

Julian Setzer did and he is now a foreign exchange student from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany attending BAHS for the year.

Julian is a senior this year and will be graduating from Bellwood. He is living here for ten months with his host family, Trevor and Susan Patton.

Julian said that, “My host parents have a young son who has wished for a big brother for a year.” Julian also said that “Bellwood is very nice, but it is nothing like home in Germany.”

I’m guessing we can all agree that it is true and nothing about Bellwood would be like Julian’s home, except that he said the schools are about the same size.

Although school size is one similarity, everything else about the schooling seems to be very different. One example that he gave is that in Germany the students stay in one classroom as the teachers switch rooms for classes. That’s just the opposite of how we run things at BAHS.

Julian said that he likes BAHS and has already started fitting in, but he prefers the way the teachers come to the students in Germany.

“I really like American History, and we don’t have that in Germany. It is new to me.” I also asked Bellwood’s new student if there is anything he is looking forward to this school year, or if there is any sports he plans on playing and he answered my question with Basketball.

When Julian was asked why he wanted to participate in the exchange program he said “I know a lot of people that did the exchange program and had a good experience. I also wanted to see more of the world.”