At first Pedro Arauz, junior, wasn’t excited about coming to America, but now he is glad that he came and has enjoyed the friends he has made and experiences he has lived.

“I didn’t really want to come to America.  It was a decision for all my cousins to come.  I didn’t want to go but my mom said I needed to go.  I tryed to fail the AFS test but it didn’t work,” Arauz said. “It is okay now, I love my friends”

Arauz has been a foreign exchange student before, but finds America to be the favorite place he has stayed at.

“This isn’t my first time being a foreign exchange student, my first time was Manchester, London.  I really really love my United States experience.  In Manchester the food is really bad,” Arauz said.

When Arauz first came here he expected it to be hotter, instead he found it was cold and constantly changing.

“I expected a hot place, not a cold place.  It is really cold and I don’t like it,” Arauz said.

He finds our food, especially when he makes it, pretty good, but what he likes most is IHop’s pancakes.

“In my house in Panama I don’t make my food, here I have to make my food,” Arauz said. “I cook the food so for me my food is really good.”

While most sports are the same in Panama, they don’t have football.  One of the things Arauz liked most was attending the last Royals baseball game and going to football games here with friends.

“My favorite thing is I went to the final Royals game, and [I like] going to team games, like football games,” Arauz said.

In Panama school was long and the classes were hard.  Here Arauz can relax a little more and take electives he’s interested in.

“My school is harder.  We have 14 classes and we stay until five in the afternoon,” Arauz said. “My favorite class is industrial technology, I make projects like tables and weldings.  It is really fun in class.”

Living with other people can be a little uncomfortable, but Arauz has enjoyed getting to know his host family.

“It is nice, but I don’t have a big host family.  It is only two people and me,” Arauz said. “My favorite thing is taking trips [with them].”