“The best part of my year has been my German exchange student, Cecile. She’s made life much more enjoyable, [and] it’s a cool experience to have someone from a different culture and to learn about it. I’ve learned about the region [Cecile] is from in Germany, I’ve learned about traditions, I’ve learned about festivals [like] Oktoberfest. But I’ve also gotten to experience a lot of things around St. Louis that I never thought I would have, just [by going out] a lot with her. We’ve taken her to football games, Homecoming events, Fox musicals and the Arch. An interesting thing that comes out of hosting an exchange student is [that] you can experience more of your town because of them. You just learn more – more about where you are from and more about where they’re from.” – Gianna Lionelli, 10