Becoming a foreign exchange student and coming to a different country for an entire year is probably very strange and scary, but Lukas Monreal Kleis seems to be making the most out of his time here. Monreal is a 15 year old from Cologne, Germany and he is considered to be a senior at West High.

Monreal wanted to become an exchange student because he thought it would be a fun experience and he would get the chance to learn a new language along with meeting new people. Monreal was most excited to experience school in America and a new culture. When he first arrived in America he was in New York and his first impression was that everything was just so big and he loved the city. Monreal had a few different host families before he was finally settled and for him it was just weird at first and felt different living in a different home with a different family that wasn’t his own. 

Monreal decided to join the soccer team here since he loves soccer and plays on a professional team back home. Being on the team introduced him to many people and he quickly became close friends with them. Monreal talks about his best friend Braiden Boschen and how he has shown him all around St. Louis and introduced him to many new things. Monreal has tried many different new fast food places here but overall his favorite is Culvers and he loves to get a good butter burger from there. Monreal was asked his favorite place in America so far, “ I love Braiden Boschens house, his room is so cool”- Monreal shared.

Although he is having loads of fun here he definitely misses home and his family especially. School here is a completely different environment for him, back home there are only 500 kids in the whole school whereas here we have over 500 in just the senior class. A little interesting fact we learned was that the Mcdonalds in Germany has a few special menu items that we don’t have here. They serve grilled cheese, chicken tenders, and even shrimp. “Ain’t it nifty”- Monreal said. 

When asked what his plans were when he got back to Germany he responded with, “ I don’t want to go home, I want to stay here.” Really though, when Monreal gets home he will attend university because he has already graduated high school back home.  Monreal has definitely made his experience worthwhile and he still has 6 months left here to make many more memories.