I'm going to USA for a whole year as an exchange student!

Do you know what part of the US you’ll be in?

Hopefully north-east. Can be Washington state too, can be anywhere but most likely one of those.

Your English is perfect, so assimilation should be no problem. Expect to deal with a large number of jerks in high school (hopfully balanced out by the nicer people). Make friends with the people who you actually like, not the people you are “supposed” to like. The best advice I have is to do your best and have fun!

Well, thank you for believing my english is flawless. Heh.

Eambos has great advice. You’re going to run into a lot of assholes…you’re going to want to find yourself some good friends. You shouldn’t rush and try to make friends with people that you wouldn’t normally have a connection with, but if you click with somebody, get their contact info and get to know each other.

And yes, your English is very good.

Well, you shouldn’t have too many problems. Like Eambos said, you have great English, so that shouldn’t be an issue. The fact that you’re new will probably be something on it’s own when you go to high school. If you have an accent of any sort, that might also be something that some people will pick on. And yes, as previously stated, there will be jerks. Just don’t let them bother you and you should be fine. Just try to find a couple of close friends, but don’t push it. I hope you like it here! =)

My best advise is to be yourself and don’t try to be someone that you are not. Congrats on being an Exchange Student for High School.

Where are you coming from?

I don’t want to speak for you Magnus, but I believe Norway.

Magnus, I hope you enjoy your stay. When you have more details, let us know and we’ll be more specific.

My family hosted a couple exchange students. One from uzbekistan and another from columbia. I think the big thing is just expect the whole culture shock thing. It can be rough but you get through it. And don’t worry about friends, People are usually interested enough in where you are from that they will talk to you and you will meet lots of cool people. Some will be jerks but thats life. Since your english is good you will have no problem smoothing it out and becoming fluent (if you arnt already) so dont worry about that. Other than that good luck

I’m from Norway. Correct.

We had an exchange student from Norway. One thing that was hard for her was Americans attitude towards smoking. Most of the kids called themselves “non-smokers” to get a good family but really smoked. There is a growing disdain for Smokers here and if you smoke, be prepared for some nasty looks and even mean comments.
Our little gal didn’t understand that if you hang out with the drug culture it will eventually suck you in. She ended up having to go home after one of her friends from Norway turned her in when she admitted trying drugs.
Having such a diverse culture is a wonderful and amazing part of American life. We have not yet perfected diversity however, and it is easy for someone who looks at the great American dream with an idealistic view to find themselves in potentially dangerous situations. Be careful and trust your host family when they say something or some place isn’t safe.

Wow Judi, that’s some hard stuff! Good thing i’ve never touched a cigarette.

We loved her dearly. It was hard to watch her make bad decisions especially since we knew that it came from a position of idealism and naivete.