Being a foreign exchange student is “like a shortcut to getting friends,” said Anton Werin. He is a senior from Gothenburg, Sweden. This year there are many foreign exchange students attending Dimond High School. They have come from an arrangement of places. Most are from Europe but a few are from Asia. Louise Mortensen, a junior from Ikast, Denmark says, “I didn’t choose [to come to Alaska]. I wanted to go to Georgia or Texas.” The foreign exchange students request what country they go to, but they are assigned the state. Their Host parents chose them. Though she requested to go somewhere else, Mortensen is happy to be here. Werin wanted to go somewhere warm. “I went into [the foreign exchange student program] to get away from Swedish weather,” Werin said, but he said it is the same weather here. Senior Alexander Hoffmann is from Bonn, Germany. He said the nature here is beautiful, and “The people too of course.” Junior Sanae Oyama was happy to go to the states. Junior Tim Jahn from Rubigen, Switzerland was happy to come to Alaska. Mortensen’s favorite things about Alaska are, “The people are nice, and [I like] the school.” Werin said, “The people are very cool here and I like the school spirit. The school here does not demand as much as the school in Sweden.” Werin said there is more homework at Dimond then in his school in Sweden. At his school there is no school spirit. “We don’t have a mascot or school colors.” Mortensen said, “This school is so much bigger. The school I went to last year only had 160 people.” Werin said, “We don’t have [a dress policy]. We can wear whatever we want.” Mortensen said, “In my country, you can wear whatever you want to school.” She goes on to say, “The food here is more fattening.” Werin said, “[The food] is much more unhealthy here. The school food here is horrible compared to Sweden. Except the school food, I love the food here.”