Chips. Cheese galaxy. Chocolate biscuits.  

These are just a few of the things Bethany and Adam Giblin miss after their move from England, two and a half years ago.

PV senior Bethany and her brother PV sophomore Adam moved across the Atlantic Ocean from Cambridge, England to River Vale on Oct. 10, 2014. This year is their final year living in America and they will be moving back to England when the school year is over.

“The schools were definitely a lot harder in England,” Bethany said.

At their school in England, there were less periods but more homework. It was the same amount of days and hours, though, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“You would have big tests like every six months,” Bethany said. “The big tests would scare me and I would get bad grades. So the constant testing (at Pascack Valley) has really helped me improve.

Leaving [my friends] and moving out here was very difficult. I didn’t know anyone here. I had to move to a completely new place… not knowing anyone, going to a completely different school, the whole town’s system was different.”

(Video by Rebecca Silverman)

As they leave the United States, both will miss their friends the most.

“The thing that I can say about PV is that it is one of the nicest schools out of the four schools I have been. Everyone was so welcoming and I made friends so quickly… it was an easy transition after such a hard period,” Bethany said.

While living in America, they took the opportunity to travel to California, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Boston, Canada, and many other places that are not as easy to travel to from Britain.

Once they return to England, Bethany is taking a gap year and then plans to attend Birmingham University. She wants to become a child psychiatrist. Adam is planning to complete his high school education in England and is interested in working in computer science or a similar field.

They are both looking forward to reuniting with their older sister, Jessica, who is currently attending university in England.

Perhaps their older sister may greet them with some chips, cheese galaxy, and chocolate biscuits…