As Algonquin’s only current foreign exchange student, senior Jessie Liang came from China to learn about America and to experience a different culture. Liang has not had an easy time, but has learned a lot and is enjoying her experience.

Liang, who lives in Marlborough and stays with a host family, did not plan to come to the United States as early as she did.

“I was never going to come here for high school, but then there was a chance to go to America for high school, and I got to go,” Liang said.

She spent her junior year in Louisiana, switching between a few schools as she changed host families.

“[My first school in Louisiana] is not a very nice school,” Liang said. “People don’t really accept new kids.”

During the summer of 2016 she transferred to Algonquin because of a change in host families.

Since then, Liang has worked hard to meet new people. After meeting Liang in her Reading and Writing Memoirs class, senior Michelle Tremblay became good friends with her and now shares similar ambitions.

In addition to being in a new school, Liang also had to adjust to the different school format.

“In China you don’t switch classrooms, so you have the same teacher and same classmates all year,” Liang said. “The classes are really hard and you get to school at 6:30 in the morning and leave at 10:30 at night, but you do all your studying and homework at school.”

Liang started learning English from a young age.

“My mom works for a foreign company so I started learning English when I was three, but it was simple words like apple,” Liang said.“Then in first grade everyone starts learning English.”

Her experience in an American school, coupled with her love for traveling, has strengthened her and made her more mature.

“When I first got here I was afraid, because I’d never been to America before,” Liang said. “Since then I’ve become more mature because you are in a completely new place and you have to make a lot of decisions yourself.”

Despite the difficulties of traveling around the world, Liang loves doing it.

“I really like traveling because you can see all the different cultures,” Liang said.