New Experiences: Sophomore Maria Gundacker, who lives in Austria, is attending high school at East for six weeks to experience student life in another country

Constant chatter, the occasional scream and a lunch line that takes what seems like an eternity to get through are things Sophomore Maria Gundacker has only experienced through the screen in movies like “High School Musical.” Having lived in Austria for her entire life, Gundacker now gets to experience what school is like in the U.S.

“There were lots of little moments where I was like, ‘Whoa, this is so cool,’ like walking into the cafeteria for the first time,” Gundacker said. “It was really cool to experience the cafeteria life.”

In Austria, Gundacker’s school days end at 1:15 p.m. so students can go home and eat lunch, unlike the typical cafeteria experience high schoolers in the U.S. receive. This was just one of the many changes — like having a significantly larger school size and only half the amount of classes — Gundacker has experienced as an exchange student.

Gundacker has been visiting the U.S. most summers since she was little. Her mother was originally from Kansas City before moving to Austria, and her dad is Austrian. Over the summer, she made the decision to attend East for six weeks for the experience of high school in a different country.

“I actually have the opportunity after our vacation here to just go to school,” Gundacker said. “And I thought I could do just that on my own [in the U.S.]. And then I was talking to my parents about it, and they [said], ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea.’ And that’s how the whole thing started.”

In Austria, students make a decision to pursue a field of their interest, and then attend a high school in Austria that specializes in that field. Gundacker chose science as she hopes to pursue medicine. So, out of her 14 classes in Austria, a lot of them are focused on science related topics.

“I feel like here [at East] you don’t have that many options,” Gundacker said. “[In Austria] you get a little bit of biology, then a little bit of languages, and you have so many options of classes that you like. On the other hand, it’s kind of cool that you get to pick your classes [at East].”

Despite the differences between schools and being a new student, it wasn’t too hard for Gundacker to fit in. Already knowing sophomore Ellen Lund — their moms were classmates at Shawnee Mission South — helped Gundacker get to know more East students through introductions.

“I didn’t know that we were going to have lunch together, and then I saw her across the lunchroom,” Lund said. “We hadn’t seen each other in a couple weeks, so it was so good to see her. I just gave her a really big hug, and now we sit together every day at lunch.”

Gundacker plans to stay until Oct. 1, returning to her old school which starts this week on Sept. 9, without missing too much. Since Gundacker isn’t being officially graded for any classes at East, she attends mostly for the experience.

“Austria is my day-to-day life and where school and my regular life is,” Gundacker said. “This is just my dreamy life, where everything seems so easy.”