Jocks, cheerlenders, nerds, band kids, skaters and theater kids all rallying together and performing a musical number in the lunchroom shouting about sticking to the status quo. According to this year’s foreign exchange students, Albert Lea High School is living in the movie “High School Musical”.

This year ALHS has the honor of getting to host two foreign exchange students:Nina Moreira Lins from Brazil and Lucia Valencia Molina from Spain. Both are seniors and are excited to participate in activities with the rest of the class of 2026. 

“I feel like I was in a movie,” said Valencia Molina about entering ALHS for the first time. “The first thing I saw was the gym, and we don’t have this gym [in Spain]. It was so big in comparison with mine.”

Not everyone would want to leave their homes and families for a whole year to study abroad but for Moreira Lins the answer was obvious, “I always wanted to study abroad since I was super young, because I think it’s good to know different cultures and different people and speak a language that is not my home language. It’s a little tricky, but it’s good to learn more about [the] United States.”

Moving far from home can be tough, especially when you’re traveling across an ocean. There are many reasons that the foreign exchange students wanted to come to the U.S. It can be a long process to get into the program and can take a lot of planning ahead. It starts with an interview process. 

“I wanted to study abroad, but my mom wouldn’t let me and my friends didn’t want me to do it,” said Valencia Molina. “I’m alone in a different country but I wanted to live the American Dream. The high school here, it’s so different from Spain. You have fun subjects and I wanted to experience that. I wanted to learn English.”

Moreira Lins is from Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil. She lives with her mom and dad, and is an only child.

”I’m in a host family with four siblings, and I’m an only child, so it’s been so different, and they’re all younger than me,” said Moreira Lins. Back home, she is involved in jazz, ballet and complementary dance classes. “They told me about Unlimited Possibilities Dance Studio because my host sister goes to UPDS too. I sent some videos of competitions I did before, they approved and I’m going to compete this year.”

Other than dancing, a typical fun outing for Moreira Lin would be going to the mall, beach and out to eat at restaurants. One event they have back in Brazil is Carnival, right near the beach. 

“We have a huge carnival and everybody goes dressed up on a specific day to the beach,” said Moreira Lins. “It’s so much fun. And I think that you guys don’t have this here, so I’ll miss it.”

A typical day back in Brazil begins at six in the morning. School is from 7-1. 

One huge difference between here and Brazil is that they have a different schedule each day, unlike here where we have the same schedule day-to-day. The students stay in the classroom while the teachers move from room to room. And lastly, Minnesota has mandatory elective classes, unlike in Brazil where they only have core classes.

“I really liked that it was like a big school, because my school in Brazil isn’t that big,” said Moreira Lins. All the teachers are super kind to me, and they’re super welcoming.”

Although learning the different types of methods of math has been one of her main challenges, overall her experience and impression of ALHS have been positive. 

“I think that this year would be a great experience to become more mature about my choices,“ said Moreira Lin. “I’ll have to make my own choices. And I think that this will be great for me, great for my future.”

Valencia Molina is from Villar del Arzobispo, Valencia, España. Back in Spain, her life consisted of waking up at 7:30 and school started at 8:10. It finishes at 2:40. Valencia Molina is involved in equestrianism and after school her mother would drive her to the horseback riding center about 40 minutes away from her home town. She has been involved with equestrianism for seven years and likes show jumping. 

“I started going every week. And I made a lot of friends,” said Valencia Molina “Then, without knowing it was like a routine and I fell in love[with] that sport”

Outside of equestrianism, Valencia Molina enjoys Fallas, which is a week in March, where everyone dresses up, in the old era. They also have firecrackers in this event, and many activities to enjoy. She likes to take the bus to the city and go shopping in the plaza. In the city, she also attends Torias, which is bullfighting. They use a red flag to tempt the bull and try to not get injured. 

“There’s people that go to the square, and then they have to avoid the bull,” Valencia Molina said. “Every Sunday, we have a meeting with the whole family, and we’d play.”

Valencia Molina’s main reason for wanting to experience American high school life is wanting to get better at English. One of the main reasons was getting to take elective courses and have extracurricular activities. In Spain, they only have club sports but here we have both school sports and clubs. Another huge adjustment is how artificial our food is, unlike in Spain they can just go out and get fresh food and meat. 

“First, the difference [is] the time to eat,” said Valencia Molina. “It’s so different, because in Spain, I have breakfast [at] 7:45 and then I have lunch at 2 or 3. Then I have supper or dinner at 9.”

Another difference is that they have a more intense workload. According to Valencia Molina, ALHS has an expansive amount of work that’s covered by having quizzes, projects and assignments to help with the test. On the other hand, in Spain, they read from textbooks and recollect it for the test. 

“In Spain, you have to do a test, and you have to learn a lot of pages,” said Valencia Molina. “You have to read, read. Each day you have a thing to do.”

Another major difference is their grading system, they are graded from 1 to 10, 6 and up being passed or noteworthy. For Valencia Molina, her biggest adjustment to America is having to focus on what is being said because students and teachers speak quickly. We may not think we’re speaking fast but to a newer English speaker, it can be hard to understand what we’re saying. 

“You guys are talking to each other so fast and [if] I’m not paying attention, I don’t understand it,” Valencia Molina said. “I have to be so focused.”

But the effort is worth it according to Valencia Molina, “A dream come true, I feel like I’m living in a movie.”