With open arms, York welcomes exchange student Simone Lund. Lund will be attending York for the entire year and return to her home country of Denmark in August of 2016. She lives in Ringsted, Denmark, which is about 45 minutes away from Copenhagen. Here in Elmhurst, Lund is staying with the Greer family.

In Denmark, Lund speaks Danish daily, but has also been learning English for seven years as well as German for a few years. Lund was thrilled when she got the news that she would be coming to the United States for her year abroad.

“I was excited to try something new, and am ready to have more responsibility,” Lund said.

Lund’s home town and school is smaller than Elmhurst. Lund’s school has around 1,000 students- about 2,000 less than York. Currently, Lund is running on the Cross Country Team and plans on doing track afterwards. She also hopes to join International club. In Denmark, if you want to play sports, you must do it outside of school because they are not offered through school.

Being her first trip to the United States, Lund misses her family a lot; but luckily, she is able to Skype with them frequently.

In Chicago, Lund has been able to visit Millennium Park, “The Bean,” and Navy Pier with her host family.

Lund noticed that one of the main differences between Ringsted and Elmhurst was how people here are much friendlier.

“At the grocery store, people say ‘Hi, how are you?’ This does not happen in Denmark,” Lund said.

Overall, Lund is very excited to be a part of the York community and is make countless memories of her time spent here.