Clara Gothberg Is From Gothenburg, Sweden

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Clara Göthberg is from Gothenburg, Sweden. Last year, she became an exchange student and came to Murphy, North Carolina. I knew nothing about Sweden before I met her. Word travels quick in that small town, so everyone knew her from social media before she even arrived. I spoke to her some before she came, and actually went to the airport with her host parents to greet her. I really thought she had a strong accent from the videos I watched of her. After watching them I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand her. Her accent sounded very strong, but once I met her it actually wasn’t near as strong as I originally thought. Since I wasn’t able to meet with Clara face to face we had to face time. I didn’t expect her to be as open, to my friend Allison and me, right away as she was. I thought that at first it would be very awkward, but I was completely wrong. Post-interview Clara’s initial expectations were very high. She expected a lot out of the United States. She grew up watching all American movies, so she expected it to be like what she saw, especially high school. She always thought America did everything big, but wasn’t sure. Once she got her she said that she found out that everything was bigger than she thought. She expected everyone at school to have their own groups, and that girls have drama. Clara assumed that America doesn’t know much about other countries, and figured that it was because people weren’t interested in learning about them. Later she found out that that wasn’t the case. Growing up listening to things in a foreign language, watching shows and movies in a foreign language, and then actually getting to learn the language really motivated her to come to America. Before she came to America she never ... ... middle of paper ... ... people can move to another country and be okay for a year or so without any of their family. Being four hours away from mine right now is hard enough. Also, it makes me curious to know if all of Sweden’s teenagers can just go and do as they please as Clara had said. That to me is such a huge difference, because here in America most people that live with their parents have a curfew, and if they don’t they still have to tell their family where they are going. With Clara coming to Murphy it not only taught her a lot, it taught myself and people around a lot too. She made me realize that there is more than just the United States. I had never fully learned about any places across the world until she came. I actually learned a little Swedish while I was with her too. She taught me that I should learn about other places and eventually travel to them to see what it is like.

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