Swiss exchange student welcomes new experiences

This year, Housatonic Valley Regional High School welcomes Sara Räber all the way from Aarau, Switzerland. She joined the senior class at 16 years old, having finished her schooling back in Switzerland.

“It’s totally different there,” she said. “We have, like, only nine years. We have kindergarten and then six elementary schools, and three high school years.” Even though she is technically a senior at Housy, Räber is in classes with students a year or two older than her.

Räber’s decision to come to the United States was not made lightly. For a year, she has to put her future on hold as a pharmacist apprentice. Furthermore, she claimed not to be good at speaking English, saying she was one of the worst in her class. “I decided to do the exchange here because of my bad English,” she said. “I was always really bad in school, and then I thought it would be the best opportunity to learn the language better.”

Räber had set a few goals for herself before coming to America. “I tried to do a bucket list, but it was not that easy because I didn’t know what to expect here. I wanted to visit New York City. One of my goals was also to try Crumbl Cookie, and I did that,” Räber said, agreeing that the cookies are good after going with a few of her friends.

Räber said her host family and friends have really enhanced her experience. “She’s super nice and so sweet. I loved her right off the bat,” said one of her friends, Sara Ireland. “Although I did resent her a little for having the same name as me,” Ireland joked, “I still love her so much.”

Elizabeth Forbes, Räber’s closest friend here, said, “Sara is really easy to be friends with. Out of all the exchange students, she came in, and I didn’t have to try. We just hit it off.”