Astrid Sundstrom, a seventeen year old exchange student from Sweden, has spent the last year with the family of Leslie and Ed Striebe on Central Street. Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News A young and popular, one year resident, of Northfield will be leaving town at the end of this month. Seventeen year old Astrid Sundstrom, a Swedish exchange student, has spent the past school year living “an Americam experience” with the family of Ed and Leslie Striebe at 238 Central Street.

For Astrid there are marked differences between American and Swedish schools. “My hometown's name is Täby which is a suburb to the capital, Stockholm. My school is in downtown Stockholm and the high school part has around 250 students. My school has grades 1-12 so there are around 1000 students in total. high school in Sweden is 3 years and is optional but everyone goes. You get to choose where you want to go to high school and what you want to study, it's a lot like college here, actually,” she told the Northfield News. “I thought the academics here would be harder but as long as you do your homework you will be O.K. It seemed easier here, overall.”

Astrid achieved high honors this past year at Northfield High School but as far as her school in Sweden is concerned, she will only earn one credit of English for her nine-month effort. She will have to “re-do”

her entire junior year when she returns home. She knew that going into the program and it doesn’t bother her. Her desire to come to the U.S.

was strong enough to override the necessity of repeating a year in school. “I wanted to see how life was in America. You see so many movies. You want to see if that’s the way it really is,” Astrid said.

She found some striking similarities, especially in one area. “People really do burst into song,” the pretty redhead remarked.

“That’s because she hangs around with the chorus kids,” Leslie Striebe explained. Astrid was a member of the High School’s very active chorus ant throughout the year she took part in the “A Step Above’” dance program as well a being a member of the cast for “The Wiz”, this year’s spring musical.

“I’m not a sports person. I enjoyed chorus and dance – I really enjoyed the musical,” Astrid said. She felt that because the chorus and musical involved students from grades 6-12 it allowed her to make lots of friends that she otherwise might not have met.

School and activities are only one part of the exchange student experience. The other half of the equation is the relationship with the host family. And she has fit right in. “ It’s like having another child, she fit right in,” said Leslie. “She watches American T.V. like there’s no tomorrow,” said Ed Striebe. “It helps me with my English,”

Astrid replied with a smile. “At home we have sub –titles, here you don’t so I have to concentrate,” added the young lady that speaks French, Swedish, and remarkable English. It sounded like just your typical American teenager.

Fifteen year old, Kayla Striebe has really enjoyed having Astrid in the house for the past school year. “I like it a lot because I’ve only had a brother It’s like having a sister. We do things (Like go out for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream) that I’d never do with my brother,” she said.

Just five days after she arrived the Streibe family hosted a birthday party for Astrid and people came to meet her. By the time the bonfire at the birthday party had turned to ashes she had struck up many new friendships so that by the time school started the next week she felt comfortable. “This was not at all like Sweden. The kids here are more open. No one was judging me from the start,” Astrid said.

While she said she is not a skier, Astrid has enjoyed her Vermont experience. She really likes maple syrup and she thought the autumn colors were spectacular. “Wow! It was like the mountains just exploded with color,” she said. She may not be a skier but she certainly likes to shop (especially for shoes). Her only major worry about her return to Sweden is how to get the stuff she has bought back home. “I’m a little worried about getting everything home. I may have to buy an other suitcase and pay extra for it,” she said.

When Astrid’s family visited from Sweden last spring they felt that she had changed a little. That she had really grown up. “ I speak to people more freely and openly now,” Astrid said. “When my family visited we went out to eat and my soda wasn’t right so I politely asked them to fix it. I would have never done that before. My family was amazed.”

When asked to sum up her Northfield experience, Astrid didn’t hesitate:

“This year has been more than I expected it to be. I got to know this lovely family and made friends. It will be hard to leave. You come in not knowing anybody and leave knowing so many. People in Sweden said that New England people weren’t very friendly. That’s not true.” She said.

When asked what she will miss most, the attractive seventeen year old once again answered right away: “I’ll miss life here in general. I like the way everybody is here and of course I’ll miss the family and Emily Page my new BFF (best friend forever, in modern parlance-Note to Emily's parents- they are hatching a plot to get Emily to visit Astrid in Sweden.). Astrid will return at the end of June and she will be missed by her host family, her school friends and by members of the entire community. Her presence here has enriched her life and the lives of those who met her during her stay in Northfield.

This was the first time that the Striebe family has hosted an exchange student. They had seen and spoken with foreign students from the Education First Summer Culture Camp at Norwich as the students walked past their Central Street home, and daughter Kayla wondered: “why couldn’t we host a student?" Thus began the application screening process. “We thought Astrid was a perfect match for Kayla and it was a great experience for both of them. We are going to host a boy from Germany this year, We think he would be a good fit for our 17 year old son, Brendan,” said Leslie.