For most Community High students, the start of a new school year is just an ordinary, albeit nerve-wracking, experience. But for Nattapat Sayabovorn, an exchange student from Thailand, the start of a new school year here in Ann Arbor was unlike anything he’s ever experienced before.

Nattapat, who prefers to be called Pat, explained that at his high-school back home in Bangkok, the teachers move around from classroom to classroom while the students stay in their seats. “The thing is, in my school, I am just sitting in the classroom, so the teachers change,” he said. Students are not allowed to choose their own classes, or take classes apart from the ones assigned to their grade. “They fix my schedule for me, and me and my friends is [sic] in the same classroom, everyday,” he said, adding “I cannot choose the subject.”

Students are not assigned lockers. Instead, they are given desks in which to keep their school materials.  Students also usually carry a backpack which they use to transport books and homework to and from school. “In my school, I don’t have to change class, so I can leave my bag at my table.” Pat explained. Nawamintharachinuthit Bordindecha, his high-school back in Bangkok, also begins with a procedure that not many students from Ann Arbor would be familiar with. “In the morning, we have to take line and sing song, the national anthem,” he said.

However, Pat doesn’t mind having to adjust to a completely different way of doing things. “I think [Community] is pretty good. I think I like it more.” He said with a laugh, adding that at his school in Thailand, students must wear a uniform. “I think this school, and the way students learn, like we can choose the class and wear what we want whatever we want.” Pat said when asked what his favorite thing about Community was.

Community High may seem small to Pat, especially compared to Nawamintharachinuthit Bordindecha, which is made up of two separate buildings, each of which is nine stories high, but he feels that having an open campus helps make up for Community’s small size, something that he likes.

YFU, or Youth For Understanding, the exchange program that Pat is a part of, does not allow students to pick to which state they will be sent. The program chooses which state they think would be best for the student based on the answers to a test. So while Pat had no say in where he ended up, he is glad that he will be staying in Michigan until the end of July. “And the thing is, I like the weather. I like it very cold, but I also like weather like this.” Pat has never seen snow before, and although he is interested to see what it will be like, he admitted that he is “not excited that much.”

Pat is staying with the family of  Erin Baughn, who is a junior at Community. He said that he doesn’t find it awkward to have to stay in someone else’s house. “The family is very good. Like, they are pretty happy every time, and my house grandma is very kind. They are very good for me, I think.”

Many people would be concerned about being away from their family for a year, or start to get homesick after a few weeks in a new country. However, Pat says he does not miss his family in Thailand because he emails them once a week with updates about his life here in Ann Arbor.