Walking out to the open field of green grass beside Thomas Jefferson Middle School, teenagers visiting from France were amazed at the expansive space.
In their first of two weeks to visit their pen pals at the local middle school, the students from Lyon, France, have found several features of Missouri very different from their home.
Each of the 30 students and three professors are staying with local host families, mostly those of corresponding pen pals through the TJMS French Club.
After arriving Saturday evening, despite the tornados and a layover in Chicago, one of the first variances came for Nicolas Vuitton by attending church with his host family Sunday.
"That was not like in France; it was a new experience," Vuitton said.
Then on Monday, the French students shadowed their counterparts during the school day, before MAP testing kept them away for the next two days.
"The school is bigger and there are more students," said French student Josselin Marti.
Vuitton admired the up-to-date computers.
"It's so modern here," Vuitton said of TJMS. "Our school is real nice; here is fantastic."
Before seeing America with their own eyes, French students Caroline Pradet and Zoe Grosset took their idea of the American lifestyle from television shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "The Simpsons."
"They are very similar," Grosset observed.
In America, everything is bigger and more activities are available after school, Grosset said. Houses look the same and people wear jogging suits out in public, Pradet noticed.
Fast food is seldom a meal choice in France and the school days are longer and more strict, said fellow classmate Benjamin Azoulay. Students don't chew gum or walk around during a class lesson, Grosset noted.
"Life is totally different," Azoulay said.