Even with the massive workload and the early wake-up calls, it seems that everyone is enjoying their summer at Exeter. But did they expect this upon arrival?

Some were not sure what they were getting into: “I had no clue what to expect,” said Ned Camel, 16. Similarly, Angel Curley, from Arizona, claimed: “I didn’t expect much of Summer School and I didn’t think much of it [before coming].”

Others had high hopes for Summer School. Vicky Torres, 14, an Access Exeter student enrolled in the Classics Cluster, comes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her sister previously came to Exeter Summer School. “She told me it was really fun and the campus was great.” Vicky said. Therefore, she was hoping for “something very positive.”

Natarsha Wan, 13, is originally from China and New Zealand, but she lives in Shanghai. She expected her classes to be interesting and wanted to meet new people, but mostly she was looking forward to “living in a cute neighborhood, [as she is] coming from a big city.”

Several students were less optimistic. Jordan Berninghaus, from Zurich, Switzerland, is an Access Exeter pupil in the Global Community Cluster. He admitted: “I thought it would all be nerds,” while his friend Zachary Manzanares from Las Vegas, Nevada, was apprehensive he would miss home a lot.

For Karl Azarian, 16, coming all the way from Beirut, Lebanon, it’s slightly different: this is his second time here at Summer School. Nevertheless, he “hoped to make friends, discover people from around the world and learn a lot of new things.”

Danielle Lucero, 23, comes from New Mexico and lives in Dunbar Hall. She works at Exeter during the regular session, but this is her first time at Summer School. “People told me that Summer School was harder than the regular session because, in a short amount of time, students face problems (like homesickness) in a stronger way,” she said, “so I was a bit worried.”

For all of them, Summer School turned out to be an enjoyable experience. As Natarsha put it, “everyone’s really nice!”

While Ned was surprised at how quickly he made friends and how close they’ve become in such a short amount of time, Zachary, 12, said he ended up finding friends easily, partly thanks to the Seacoast United soccer program.

Moreover, Jordan wanted to learn a lot about languages, literature and global issues in his cluster and he is getting a lot out of his classes. Karl is taking Computer Science, Becoming a Confident Writer, and Politics and he also feels like he is learning a great deal.

Angel, who at first was skeptical over coming to Exeter Summer, said: “There’s so much more to it than I thought!” Furthermore, Ms. Lucero is actually enjoying summer school more than the regular session, because “the students are more excited to be here.”

Unfortunately, the end of summer school is getting closer and closer and students have mixed feelings on this. Grace Naughton, 17, is from Washington, DC and Ireland: “I don’t want to leave but I am going back to Ireland so I have something to look forward to…”

To be continued!