This year Crofton High School got a new foreign exchange student named Fiene Adler from Berlin, Germany, staying with Holly and Chris Wortmann and their family.
In Germany, Fiene woke up at six in the morning in order to get to school by eight, and most of the time after school she was in drama club or track and field. In Germany, school and sports are not combined, and she would have to pay just to participate in a sport.
Back home, Fiene plays tennis and runs track and field. Fiene would have ten to thirteen classes a week, and she would be all over the place compared to just having four blocks each day in Crofton. The German school that Fiene came from didn't have any uniforms or any dress codes to follow so she wore whatever made her comfortable. Adjusting to the dress code here was a change. At her old school, she would never know what she would be eating for lunch most of the time, but it usually involved a lot of meat.
When she transferred to Crofton she had already graduated from her old school.
Fiene is staying in the U.S. for 10 months and everyone is getting to know her a lot better over lunch and in her classes. She likes Crofton because the school combines classes and sports, and you don't have to pay to play a sport. This year she is participating in cross country and track and field.
She wants to learn about local culture and become better at speaking English. Fiene started to learn English before school started and it was a little difficult for her to understand. She understands English a lot more now, and if she doesn’t then she feels comfortable asking for help.
Fiene During a tip to Florence, Italy