When Frida Klarskov Reksten’s feet touched the ground outside the Billings-Logan International Airport, the first thing she noticed was the pavement.

“Especially where you walk in the neighborhoods, because we have like, normal concrete in Norway,” Klarskov Reksten said. “Here it’s more detailed and it looked very American.”

The pavement was very styled, Klarskov Reksten said, adding with a smile, “like that pebble is supposed to be right there.”

She has traveled a lot in her life, the 17-year-old student said, living in both Norway and Denmark, and had always wanted to come to the United States.

While some countries are influenced by the cultures of other large nations like China, Norway is heavily influenced by American and English culture, she said.

“I’ve always wanted to experience American high school and stuff, because [American culture is] so influential in our everyday life, even in Norway,” Klarskov Reksten said. 

The biggest American influence on Norwegian culture comes from social media, television, movies and “food of course,” saying that while American food is influenced by other cultures, the U.S. makes it their own. 

Klarskov Reksten had originally had her eye on upstate New York, while Texas and California also came to mind when she thought of studying in the United States. She wound up in Powell, however, through the group EF High School Exchange Year.

EF has been operating in the area for over 50 years, area coordinator Lynn Jackson said. While EF as a whole does send some American students abroad, Jackson focuses on bringing students into the Big Horn Basin and then communicating with host families and students throughout the year. To be accepted, students fill out an application and are interviewed by their EF office (EF has offices in 15 countries including recent additions Poland and Brazil). Once students are selected for EF, coordinators look at applications and pick students. Jackson looks for students whose interests would match the area and their host family (if she is looking on behalf of a specific family).

If Jackson is looking for a student before having a host family she usually chooses a student at national meetings in February, “that’s just kind of general that would work in a lot of families, and that’s what I did with Frida,” Jackson said. 

When Klarskov Reksten heard she was coming to Wyoming, she was curious. Not many people post about Wyoming on TikTok, she said, “so I was trying to find videos and trying to find information about how the people are here but it was basically impossible.”

Luckily, she’s found the people are open, kind and genuine. Many of the other foreign exchange students Klarskov Reksten knows have had experiences across the country where they describe the people as fake, she said.

Overall, there have been a lot of positives, Klarskov Reksten added. She joined the PHS dance team and is hoping to obtain her driver’s license when she turns 18 (the legal age for Norway).

She has found school to be more structured than in Norway, she said, with the biggest differences involving teachers, dress codes and other rules.

“Of course, there are different school setups, that’s a different thing. But in the school community, it’s more chill, kind of,” Klarskov Reksten said. “Here in Norway the teachers don’t really care. You’re responsible for your own education, they won’t tell you to do stuff they already told you. Like, they won’t tell you twice.”

She enjoys having responsibilities of her own, she said. Using Powell High School’s phone policy as an example, Klarskov Reksten said she’s not frequently on her phone but she likes the freedom to use it when she wants.

Having a variety of electives is also different. In Norway students are offered electives in junior high and some in high school, she said. When she returns to Norway she will have one more year of school left. Students have 10 years of compulsory school and then another three years (referred to as upper secondary education, which is not mandatory but common) where they can choose to pursue different interests — Klarskov Reksten has completed two, she is eyeing a business class where she’ll work with a group to create a business that will then be entered into a competition. 

In the meantime, she is looking forward to the traditional prom experience.

“We have a period where we like party on the bus for a month (russefeiring, a traditional celebration for students completing upper secondary education), and that’s our prom,” Klarskov Reksten said, adding that there’s also a dance for students at the start of their final school year.

What’s she expecting out of a classic American prom?

“Enjoy my life?” she said. “I don’t know, just enjoy it.”