Emma Santos

Laura Norman (12) and Ruben Beest (11) at the Flower Mound football game against Fossil Ridge. The Jags’ first game of the season was also the visiting students’ Norman and Beest’s first Texan football game.

Travel creates opportunities for people to expand their ideas and perception of the world around them. That is why Dutch students Laura Norman, 12, and Ruben Beest, 11, took the opportunity to study abroad at our very own Flower Mound High School this year. Jumping from a life in Holland into the vastly contrasting culture of Texas has allowed for Norman and Beest to experience significant culture shock in their short time here.

“Americans can be kinda crazy,” Norman said. From our plethora of pickup trucks to our expansive range of Oreo flavors, Flower Mound baffles the Dutch students with little surprises everyday. Luckily, the two students have open-minds and adventurous personalities. Norman and Beest readily welcome our American quirks, naming our obsession with fast food restaurants and our teenage addiction to Snapchat as noteworthy, while enjoying our Texan culture, taking quick trips to Buc-ee’s on the weekends, and enjoying delicious meals at Texas Roadhouse.

The foreign exchange program at FMHS works through Education First, an organization which, according to their website eftours.com, relocates high school students from over 114 countries to experience other cultures through their learning environment during their junior or senior year. The program itself “is an amazing social experience,” Beest said. “If you tell [other students] you’re an exchange student they are very open to you.” Both students were pleasantly surprised by the compassion and warmth they received from  their host families, as well. 

“Everyone I meet here is so nice,” Norman said. This feeling of acceptance has extended into their new “home lives,” as they have enjoyed getting to know their host families.

“She is becoming like a sister to me,”senior Abby Thornock, Norman’s host sister, said. Through the exchange program, Norman and Beest were both matched with loving hosts that have given them insight into American culture and helped them better transition into a life in Flower Mound.

The kind southern culture has accepted the two students with open arms, giving them the opportunity of meeting new friends everyday. Ultimately, the program has allowed for Norman and Beest to immerse themselves in Texan culture, creating invaluable memories they can cherish when they return to the Netherlands.