Foreign exchange student welcome

Hi, 

I am Elise, an exchange student from Belgium. I speak French, and I will spend nine months in Milton. I am lucky to have a really nice host family, the Cromley family, which includes English teacher, Mr. Wes Cromley. 

I am eighteen, and I already graduated from high school in Ottignies, my town (a little bigger than Milton) in Belgium last year. This year is like a second senior year, but on the other side of the world and in another language, climate, family and places. It was a big decision that I took, but a good one, I am sure. 

My exchange year was almost cancelled because of COVID-19 but on Sept. 1, a person from my organization, WEP (World Exchange Program), called me to announce I could have this experience and it will happen in Pennsylvania. The area of Pennsylvania is larger, with a greater population than Belgium. You can cross my country in about four hours and be in a neighboring country, like France, in a few hours too.  

In my first month here, I noticed differences between Belgium and the United States. A lot of things are bigger than in Belgium, like the shops. Personally, I think it’s very impressive to enter a mall, because we don’t have any in Belgium, and you can literally find everything. We have a different point of view about the size of things. For example, Milton Area School District looks big in my eyes, but some students with whom I spoke with told me that the school is small.  

Moreover, it seems like a weird thought but here in Milton, the school hallways are much wider and it makes the difference. It’s more pleasant than being stuck in a small building where students jostle each other.  

Likewise, in Belgium, there are fewer course options. We have to take sciences, history, math, geography, Dutch or German, Catholic religion, gym and English classes. These classes are obligatory. We can choose the number of hours that we want, and we have the opportunity to learn Spanish and Latin. 

We don’t have to wear a uniform at school, but we are not allowed to wear sweatpants, shorts, Crocs and tops where we can see the shoulders. It’s strict and different than here. 

We have break of twenty minutes at 10 and 2.40pm and another one of 1 hour. During these breaks we go outside. That’s a big difference because here in Milton, the students don’t leave the building at all during the day. 

Concerning the architecture, the houses in Belgium are made of bricks, we have a lot of historic cities like Brussels, Bruges, Anvers, and the streets are not rectangular like in Milton.  

About the food, Belgian people definitely eat more vegetables than in America. American food is overall saltier and sweeter. At school we don’t have lunch. We have to bring our own food, so it has to be a cold meal. People usually have a sandwich. 

There are many American brands in Europe like Oreo, Nike, Coca-Cola and Snickers. We also have Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King and Dunkin Donut.  

I tried new food items like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Mac&Cheese, Middlesworth BBQ and I liked them. I also tried Chipotle and Red Robin so far. I particularly miss Belgian waffles, good chocolates (our specialty) and crepes.  

Something that surprised me is that you don’t sort waste. In Belgium, there is a bin for papers, one for plastics and one for food waste. A fact that I have to defend as a Belgian is that “French fries” actually originated from Belgium.  

A big difference is the holidays. For example, we know Halloween, but we don’t celebrate it and don’t decorate our houses like in the United States. We don’t have Thanksgiving either.  

Next year, I would like to begin marketing studies in Belgium. The colleges in Belgium are definitely cheaper than here.  

I only spent one month here, but I can already advise people to do an exchange year. It is very enriching. It’s another way to discover the world and learn a language. It can be scary to be far from the country where you grew up and built your life, but it is definitely worth it. It is a challenge because you have to face loneliness and get out of your comfort zone, but anyone can do that if they have the determination. They will become more confident and mature. Moreover, it is an exchange so it is an opportunity to share my Belgian culture with the American people.   

We don’t use the same money, here you use the dollar ($) and in Belgium we use the euro (€). Then, the weather looks the same. The difference is that here you have a lot of snow in the winter while in Belgium, we don’t have snow every year, and when we do, it’s only about ten centimeters. In the fall the trees turn orange, but not as much as here. During the spring its around 59-68 Fahrenheit (in Belgium we use the degree Celsius). In summer we have sunny days (except 2021 which was a bad summer, it rained a lot).