Clara Gothberg is from Gothenburg, Sweden. Last year she became an exchange student and came to Murphy, North Carolina. I knew nothing about Sweden before meeting her. Word travels fast in that small town, so everyone knew about her from social media before she even arrived. I talked to her a little bit before she arrived and actually went to the airport with her host parents to say goodbye. From the videos I watched of her I really thought she had a strong accent. After seeing them I wasn't sure I could understand her. Her accent seemed very strong, but once I met her it actually wasn't as strong as I initially thought. Since I couldn't meet Clara face to face, we had to deal with the weather. I didn't expect her to be as open with me and my friend Allison as she was. At first I thought it would be very embarrassing, but I was completely wrong. Clara's initial expectations after the interview were very high. He expected a lot from the United States. She grew up watching all American movies, so she expected it to be like what she saw, especially in high school. She always thought America did everything big, but she wasn't sure. Once she got it, she said she discovered everything was bigger than she thought. She expected everyone at school to have their own groups and for girls to have drama. Clara assumed that America didn't know much about other countries and thought that was because people weren't interested in learning about them. He later discovered that this was not the case. Growing up listening to things in a foreign language, watching shows and movies in a foreign language, and then actually learning the language, really motivated her to come to America. Before he came to America he had never… middle of paper… people could move to another country and be fine for about a year without any of their family. Being four hours away from mine right now is hard enough. Also, I'm curious if all Swedish teenagers can go and do whatever they want, like Clara said. This to me is a huge difference, because here in America most people who live with their parents have curfews, and if they don't, they still have to tell their family where they are going. Clara's arrival in Murphy not only taught her a lot, but it also taught me and the people around me a lot. It made me realize that it's not just the United States. I had never fully known any place in the world until she came along. I actually even learned a little Swedish while I was with her. It taught me that I should learn about other places and eventually go there to see what it's like.