The standard for how students dress in Cannon Falls High School(CFHS) and across America is, to be blunt, not impressive. The sweatpants, sweatshirts, and even pajama pants strewn across the students at CFHS were a sort of culture shock to the newest addition to the school–a student all the way from Sweden. In Sweden, students are used to dressing nicer for school in clothing such as jeans and sweaters every day, while many students here only wear them once a school year on picture day. However, the new student was immediately thrilled to be immersed in American culture, even if the fashion sense was somewhat lacking.
This fall Cannon Falls High School welcomed a student from halfway across the world. Ella Aakerlind Nielsen, a Swedish foreign exchange student from the city of Östersund, has decided to attend her senior year of high school in America. Ella says she is “looking forward to just experiencing the American culture and the American High School.” CFHS and the senior class have welcomed her with open arms, and couldn’t be more excited to have her. She is staying with her host parents Mandy Langsdorf and Justin Malecha, who have taken her in and are housing her for the remainder of the school year.
Ella comes from the small Swedish city of Östersund which is home to around 65,000 people. Östersund is a beautiful city located in northern Sweden. According to Ella “It is a little bit colder there and we usually have snow for 6-8 months”, so Ella is well prepared for a harsh Minnesota winter. Her hometown is very cozy in the winter and people even build things out of snow, such as a small castle the people in her town make by a lake in Östersund named Storsjön–the fifth largest lake in Sweden. She attends one of the largest schools in Sweden, where they choose a program to complete high school, rather than taking all individually chosen courses. As stated by Ella “That program already has pre-decided classes that we will have to take for the next 3 years.” However, they do get to choose what modern language they will learn, from either French, Spanish, or German. Ella has chosen to take French. While she enjoys her hometown and her school in Sweden, she claims that “There are much more fun activities here with the school, and back home we don’t have homecoming or school football games or anything like that.”
Many of the activities her school in Sweden lacked, can be found within Cannon Falls High School, which has a wide variety of sports and clubs. Ella even intends to participate in a winter sport, stating that “[at] first I was thinking of dancing, but now I’m leaning more towards basketball.” Sports are completely detached from schools in Sweden, so participation in sports must be done outside of school. Back in Sweden, Ella competed as a gymnast for ten years and was also involved in a painting group. CFHS also has activities like homecoming, which Ella’s school in Sweden didn’t. One of Ella’s favorite memories so far at CFHS has been Homecoming. Homecoming occurred during Ella’s first week at the school and she even got to walk in the coronation.
Another memory that Ella will never forget was her first day at Cannon Falls High School. According to Ella, “Everyone was very welcoming.” Starting a new school is intimidating to anyone, but starting a new school in an entirely different country is a much greater feat. However, Ella felt a warm welcome from her classmates and teachers, which helped her feel at home here in Cannon Falls. While walking into school on her first day she remembers thinking “This looks like what I imagined and it looks so American to me.” School guidance counselor Kirsten Hoffman, who gave Ella her tour of the school, recalls that she “noticed Ella’s smile right away!” and that she “looked so excited to be here, and is such a friendly person.”
This school year will hold a lot of new experiences for Ella as she becomes acclimated to living in America and attending an American high school. As the year progresses Ella is looking forward to “all of the holidays and the holidays that we don’t celebrate in Sweden.” So far she has gotten to celebrate Halloween in America and can’t wait to celebrate the rest. Ella is most excited to “get better at English and grow as a person.” Cannon Falls High School is honored to host Ella this school year, and with her friendly personality, she has made friends easily and fit in perfectly with the senior class. CFHS wishes Ella an exchange year full of new experiences, friends, and memories.
