Before we started to talk, he was seated in the corner of his ninth period room, B111, studiously doing his homework just like the other twenty-four students in the class. At first glance, he appeared to be just your average American student, if not slightly better dressed than his peers. But Jakob Traub is definitely not average. In fact, he’s not even American.

Jakob is a part of North Penn’s International Friendship Committee, an organization responsible for sending and receiving exchange students from five different countries including France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and our own United States. Jakob is visiting from Salzgitter, Germany, where he leaves behind parents, two siblings, and one cute little dog.

“I think [my parents] are glad I used this [opportunity,] but my mom was a little bit worried at first,” he laughed, though clearly pleased that he still ended up walking North Penn’s halls.

For the rest of us, after that first week of sophomore year, North Penn loses its daunting and intimidating facets, but imagine trying to navigate it while learning English at the same time. The parts of this school that we take for granted suddenly become a lot more overwhelming.

“North Penn is much bigger,” he began hesitantly, comparing it with his own school, Cranich Gymnasium, “with many, many more students, but I think because the school is so big, you can do many things… It has [better] equipment compared to my school.”

And there is no better way to make a big school seem smaller than taking advantage of sports and clubs that are offered. Jakob mentioned back home he is a part of a private swim club and is eager to share his skills with North Penn’s own swim team.

When asked how he was adjusting so far, he responded, “I love it! I already did a lot of things that were a lot a fun, and I hope it goes on like this.”

Recently he has been to Philadelphia, where he tried cheesesteak and tomato pie for the first time, classic American staples that don’t exist in Germany. It is evident that the way to anyone’s heart, regardless of race or ethnicity, is still food, and one can’t experience true American culture without sampling some iconic dishes. Jakob already has a list of places and foods he’s excited to try.

“Places I want to see [are] New York and maybe Washington D.C. if it’s possible. I’ll go back to Philadelphia because there’s still much more [to do there.] I want to go to the Cheesecake Factory because a friend from Germany was an exchange student here and told me the Cheesecake Factory is pretty good. And I think my friends here will tell me more things [to do].”