Imagine being back in high school, but this time you are far from your home and family, living in a new culture and you have to adjust to many differences from what you are used to. This is exactly what Nacel exchange students Fernanda Gomes from Brazil and Josephine Herschel from Germany have been doing for the last five months, since coming to live in Weyburn.

Both have had a lot of cultural differences to adjust to since coming here, but one of the biggest adjustments was to the small size of Weyburn compared to their hometowns.

Josephine comes to Weyburn from Bonn, Germany, which was the capital of Germany after World War Two and Germany was divided by the Berlin Wall. Bonn is also the birthplace of Beethoven, and with a population of 315,000 people, it is 30 times the size of Weyburn.

"We have the Beethoven house, our university is built into a castle, and there is another castle with a platonic garden." Herschel spoke about well-known landmarks in Bonn, saying, "there are also a lot of old buildings where politicians used to work or live located in Bonn."

Fernanda traveled here from Curitiba, Brazil, which is known as the ecological capital of Brazil. Curitiba has a population of three million people, which is three times the population of Saskatchewan.

"We have the biggest mall in South America, and a lot of parks and malls," Gomes stated about Curitiba. As the largest and one of the most important cities of Southern Brazil, Curitiba is also a cultural, political and economic centre.

Traveling so far from home to enter a new culture, both Josephine and Fernanda miss a lot of their homes, besides the obvious separation from their family and their friends.

"I miss the food, like chocolate and bread," commented Josephine. As a 17 year old, she also commented on the difference in the legal drinking age between Saskatchewan and Germany. "You are allowed to drink and buy beer and wine at 16 years of age, you can drink and buy vodka and rum at 18 years of age. No matter what your age, you are allowed to go into pubs and bars."

"One of the biggest difference for food is the sizes, I was amazed by the four litres of milk and the size of peanut butter jars." Josephine also noticed that this larger size difference was just not in food, "your cars are bigger as well."

"The food is really different for me, due to the weather difference," mentioned Fernanda. The 16 year old misses eating strawberries any time of the year, but especially she "misses going to the beach, especially while experiencing a Saskatchewan winter."

"Here everyone seems to be at the same social level, the houses are all so pretty and no one seems to lock their doors in Weyburn." Fernanda was shocked by that when she first came here, saying, "in Brazil our home has a lot of security. We lock the doors when we leave and we have electric fences around our property."

Another difference that they had to adjust to was the weather. "We have more rain in Germany, and it is definitely not this cold," said Josephine. "The weather is shocking, especially since it is summer time right now in Brazil," stated Fernanda.

Coming into a Canadian school system was also different for the girls. "In Brazil we don't choose our class schedule, we don't have lockers, we don't have spares, and we don't switch to different classrooms." Fernanda also mentioned that the school day in Brazil is from 7 a.m. to noon, instead of from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. as it is here in Canada.

"I noticed that everyone comes to school in cars in Weyburn," mentioned Josephine. "As well, in Germany every day is a different schedule, and we don't have such a large lunch break either."

"I found that the school work is much easier here," Josephine stated, "you might get a lot of it, but the assignments are smaller than what you get in Germany, where we get it fewer times, but are larger assignments."

There was also some confusion when the girls had to adjust to slang language, as used by many of the students at the Comprehensive School.

"At the beginning I did not understand a word here," commented Josephine. "Everyone was talking in slang, and I learned English in the proper British terms and forms."

"I had a real problem understanding the word 'weird'," laughed Fernanda. "I remember that on the first day that I arrived at school I was so nervous that I could not even say my own name."

But it did not take long for either girl to adjust, with the welcoming environment they found in Weyburn. Fernanda said, "The people here are so polite, it is amazing in comparison."

"I was on the soccer team, and I noticed the amazing school spirit on the team, we were a close-knit group." Josephine added that "you can ask anyone a question here, at school or in the mall, and they will usually help you."

As is the custom for exchange students attending the Comprehensive school, both Josephine and Fernanda will be participating in the graduating ceremonies in June. For Fernanda, it will be her official graduation from her schooling. "In Brazil graduating is not a big thing as it is here. I was a little concerned about graduating here in Weyburn, since I would not be able to do it with my friends back in Brazil, but now I think it will be an exciting experience."

When she returns to Brazil, Fernanda plans to go to university, but will have to pass a test to qualify to the university level. "I am going to work at passing the test to go into law school, because I want to be a judge."

Josephine will still have two more years in her schooling, as school in Germany goes to Grade 13, but she too is "excited to be participating in the graduation ceremony, because graduation is not really a big thing in Germany either."