By David Fleet

Editor

Ask Thu Nguyen a question in English, French, German, Spanish or Vietnamese and there’s a good chance she’ll understand.

“French is by far the toughest,” said Nguyen, 17. “They speak really fast and it was more difficult to understand French at first, but I got it. At school we really emphasized learning a foreign language early.”

In addition to being multilingual—Nguyen is also a resident of Frankenthal, located in southwest Germany, who arrived at Goodrich High School last fall as part of the American Scandinavian Student Exchange (ASSE), founded in 1976 by the Swedish government to organize student exchange programs between Sweden and the United States has grown to now include 35 countries.

Nguyen lives with local host family Terri and Mark Schall. This month she will return to Germany and Karoline school in Frankenthal, where she’ll study for two more years until graduation. She is the daughter of Hai and Vinh and has an older brother, Khanh. While Thu was born in Germany, her parents are from Vietnam.

“We’ve gone back to visit family in Hanoi and Saigon (Vietnam),” she said. “It’s really hot and humid there, but I love the food. However, American food is fast food. There are fast food places all over here—burgers and French fries. Everything is bigger here, including the cars we drive everywhere. At home I can ride my bike anywhere I want to go.”

Nguyen plays the piano and plans to study business after high school.

“It’s really cold here, too, and school at Goodrich starts way, way too early in the morning,” she laughed. “I’d rather be sleeping than here. But, the teachers and students have been excellent. I attended the prom and been a member of the track team, too. Americans have been very friendly to me.”