During lockdown, Clara said, “It wasn’t like I was actually going to do online homework,” so instead, she looked into exchange programs. She talked to her parents about it; they thought it was an acceptable idea, so she ended up here.

Clara is on the cheer team and is in a figure skating club. When she’s not busy with school, she enjoys baking and spending time with the many friends she has accumulated in her two months of being here. Clara said, “There is no major difference; it is just all the small things.”

However, she said the school system here is pretty different than in the Czech. They have the same class from 1st to 9th grade, and the teachers switch, not the students. Everybody has nine classes a day, not counting free periods, and nobody gets to pick any of their classes. They also have about 19 subjects that rotate and a whole extra year of high school. Clara said she has even been learning chemistry and physics since 4th grade. Her favorite class here is Human Anatomy with Mr.Nelson.