Joe Knuth, sophomore, has spent the past three and a half months 4,047 miles away in Duisans, France.   He wakes up surrounded by a loving French family, he goes to school in the middle of beautiful Arras, and everyday he experiences a culture most Americans can only read about. However, this intense culture shock has not been easy to adapt to for Knuth. There are other-worldly differences between our Midwest home and the hills of northern France.

“School has been the biggest change,” Knuth admits.  He describes high school as being set up “similarly to college” where you choose your specialty, “scientific, economic sciences or literature,” after middle school.

Knuth chose to go to a scientific school in the middle of Arras and the location has been one of the school’s best attributes.  “We have about 1 1/2 hours for lunch and we are allowed to leave campus, and seeing as the school is located in the middle of the city, we can go find restaurants and cafes for cheap and eat lunch,” Knuth states.

There are some other major differences in school. “Being on time isn’t nearly as important as it is at Homestead. The bell rings and nobody does anything about it,” Knuth notices. In addition, “once a week they have a testing period for a few hours on a certain subject that alternates every week and basically takes place of homework.”

This collegiate-like learning may be the reason Business Insider ranks France ahead of America in every single category available: mathematics, science, and reading.  However, Knuth disagrees with the professionals; he “likes Homestead more.”

Madame Clark, French teacher at Homestead, also attributes this difference to the “lack of extracurriculars which promotes an atmosphere of learning.”

Socially things are different as well.  “Everybody here smokes….and you can drink just like you can smoke,” Knuth notes.

For Knuth, France is literally and figuratively worlds away from America, but regardless of the changes he is happy that he went.

Check out Knuth’s favorite French places in this interactive map!