MARSHALL — They came from across the globe to Marshall, Minnesota. And while they’re learning about a different culture, exchange students at Marshall High School said they are enjoying the experience.

A group of four exchange students spoke with local residents at the Adult Community Center in Marshall on Tuesday, sharing a bit about the history and culture of their home countries, and talking about their experiences in Minnesota.

The students came from hometowns in Europe and Asia. Roope Eriksson is from Finland. Julia Berntsson is from Sweden. Alessio Di Paolo is from Italy, and Tsukasa Yano is from Japan.

The students arrived in Minnesota in August, and are spending the school year in the junior class at MHS, said Lois Johnson, a volunteer with the AFS exchange program. Marshall has hosted exchange students through AFS (which started as the American Field Service) since the 1960s, Johnson said. The students not only get to experience American school and host families, they interact with the community as part of the exchange program.

“They’re all having a fabulous year,” Johnson said.

Students talked about some of the different parts of their cultures compared to American culture, including school, hobbies and food. Students said school in Minnesota was quite different from in their home countries.

“Our day-to-day schedule changes a lot,” Berntsson said, and there aren’t school-sponsored activities like there are in Minnesota.

Eriksson said class schedules in Finland also change from day to day, and there weren’t school activities or sports. One of the things he’s enjoyed about being in Minnesota was being part of the MHS hockey team. Soccer and ice hockey are popular sports in Finland, he said.

“I played pond hockey, but not on a team,” Eriksson said. Playing competitively was a fun experience, he said. “I liked all the different things about the season, and all the road trips with the team.”

Di Paolo said in Italy, students had a choice of different high schools with a different emphasis, like art, science or the humanities.

“I go to a scientific high school,” he said. While he still had general education requirements, Di Paolo said he also had more science classes.

Yano said his experiences with school were a little different. He attended an all-boys Catholic school in Japan.

“It was a pretty interesting experience,” to go to a co-ed high school in Minnesota, he said.

Yano said in Japan he commuted more than an hour, one way, by train and other transportation to get to class. But punctuality is important in Japan, and he said that applies to the train systems as well. If a train runs five minutes late, Yano said, you get a certificate that works like a tardy pass at school.

The students also talked about popular foods in their home countries, and what their experiences with American food were like.

Di Paolo said food had an important place in Italian culture.

“A meal, if you go out on a weekend, it can last like four hours,” Di Paolo said. Part of the reason for that was that the meals have multiple courses. It’s also a social gathering — Di Paolo described getting a big group of people together and talking while they share a meal.

Di Paolo said there are more than 20 regions in Italy, he said, “And every place you go has its own typical food.” A lot of what Americans think of as Italian food, like fettuccine Alfredo or spaghetti and meatballs, actually comes from America, he said.

Berntsson said Minnesotans were familiar with some Swedish foods, like Swedish meatballs. But the American version of Swedish meatballs taste different. In Sweden, she said, “They’re a bit more spicy. Which is interesting, because Sweden doesn’t have a lot of spices in their food.”

Eriksson and Berntsson said BBQ ribs and pulled pork were some of the American foods they’ve liked the best. Yano said he liked the sub sandwiches the team would get when he was in cross-country.

There were some things about American and Minnesotan culture that took some getting used to, students said. When asked what was most different about Minnesota, Eriksson said, “Small talk is a big part of what comes to mind.” People in Finland are more likely to give you space than to make small talk, he said.

Speaking English all the time also took getting used to, students said.

“When I first came here, I was overwhelmed by people speaking English,” Yano said. Yano had a different kind of challenge adjusting to the language. While many European languages have links like sharing the same alphabet, Japanese has completely different words for everything, he said.

“But now, I’m thinking in English, and saying it in English,” he said.

Of course, the weather was a topic that was bound to come up in any discussion in Minnesota. Students spoke a little about what the climate was like in their home countries compared to Minnesota — Eriksson said the winter weather in Finland “depends on where you are.” The northern parts of the country are comparable to Canada, he said. Di Paolo, on the other hand, said the snow was one of the big differences between Minnesota and his home in the central part of Italy.

While Di Paolo wasn’t a fan of Minnesota winter weather, he had a sympathetic audience.

“We don’t like it either,” one local resident said.