BRIGHT P-12 College has started the school year with a number of exchange students.
Through the college's 20-year relationship with German sister-school, Wirtschaftsschule Alpenland, students have the opportunity to live in and learn about a different culture before they even graduate.
“We really embrace and appreciate the opportunity for international learning that our students have with this program,” Bright P-12 languages teacher and international student coordinator, Katrina Ciolli said.
"By hosting international students at Bright, lots of our other students, who might never plan to learn a language or go overseas during their school years themselves, are able to get the advantage of that intercultural connection."
This year's participants in the three-month exchange, Year 10s Kristina Bodner and Lukas Lord, made the most of their experience by doing a number of local activities with their host-families.
"We did the Mount Beauty river-walk and the Mount Buffalo National Park," Kristina said.
"We also went to the Brighter Days Festival in town and visited Albury."
Kristina's host-mother, Ms Clayton said the family have really enjoyed showing off this part of the world and learning about the differences between the two countries.
"Our daughter Jemma went to Germany last term," Ms Clayton said.
"I haven’t been myself, but I would love to go and explore the region Kristina is from in Bavaria."
Lukas has also integrated well within his host family, with the boys playing basketball, card games, table tennis, videogames and finska together.
"One of my favourite experiences in Australia so far is definitely hiking on Mount Buffalo," Lukas said.
"With food: discovering 'Shapes' and 'Cherry Ripes' are new for me and I learned the word ‘yapping’ while I've been here."
Ms Birch, Lukas' host-mother, said the family has really enjoyed getting to know him and learning all about his life back in Germany.
"The children have made sure to be inclusive and make Lukas feel welcomed," she said.
"We've learned how to best support Lukas and include him in our daily routine.
"We have made sure to take the time to listen, question and understand and we've been able to work out any differences in a relaxed and fun way."
Bright P-12 College is also able to accommodate international students who are not part of the established school exchange program.
Year six student, Joël Sawyer from Switzerland, is currently accompanying his father on a world business trip and studying in Bright for term one.
"I like it here very much and I am enjoying the nice weather," Joël said.
"School is quite different here; in Switzerland my school day starts at 7:10am and ends at 4:30pm.
"It has been enjoyable to be able to have more time for hobbies and sleeping.
"In Switzerland, I play a lot of soccer but here my friends and I play basketball together.
"I am looking forward to spending the next few weeks in Bright before we head off to Thailand.”
Olga Kovanen from Finland is another international student, currently studying Year 12 as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange for a year.
"I’ve had it as a dream to participate in an exchange since the sixth grade," Olga said.
"I think it’s a great opportunity to learn about new cultures and experience local life.
"I am used to living in a town like Albury, so Bright feels quite small for me: but I like the fact both places are close to nature.
"We don’t have school uniforms in Finland, so that has been a nice experience."