BRRRRRING! A bell marks the end of another day of middle school, and suddenly the once-deserted narrow hallway, where six youths sit cross-legged on the gray-carpeted floor, is filled with a hundred other students.

The six halt in midsentence and quickly grab their belongings -- a heavy black bag, pens, notebooks, clipboards, a tape recorder, a camera -- and disappear into a nearby classroom amid a roar of adolescent patter and garbled Spanish greetings.

The youths -- four Latinos, one black and one white -- have come together to discuss the immigrant experience in the United States and to compare and contrast the views and lifestyles of two American peoples.

Late last spring, Y-Press interviewed four Latino students at Washington Township's Westlane Middle School. Quetzal Cela, 13; Jorge Moreno, 15; Laura Vicente, 14; and Jose Vicente, 15, are from Mexico and were able to shed much light on the experiences of foreign youths trying to adapt to fast-paced American society.

Jose and Laura have been here the longest, more than three years. Jorge and Quetzal moved here about a year and a half ago. All said their families were attracted by the variety of work and services available in United States.

"America for me means opportunity," Jose said.

"Here are many opportunities to go to school, in Mexico not," Laura explained. "Here, you have a say. I mean, like you can probably be an important person or something like that, and that's not usual to the Mexican house."

"Here, it's more safe to go out, because in Mexico they have a lot of violence and stuff like that," Quetzal added.

The downside

Their quest for opportunity, however, did not come without some sacrifice. The students agree that the United States is far different from what they imagined, beginning with attitudes toward nonresidents.

"If a stranger goes to our country, we try to give the best, and we try to make them feel like they were home," Quetzal said. "Here, they treat us really well, but there is a difference between ranking and stuff like that. Mexico is not like that. We like to have people from different countries and mixed cultures."

Sometimes, Quetzal doesn't feel welcome in the United States. "I have had problems with people who don't like me because of where I come from and stuff like that," she said. Part of the problem is the language barrier, although two of the teens appear to have a good grasp of English.

"Here, it's hard to have friends 'cause you don't speak the same language and sometimes they don't understand you. In Mexico, it's easier 'cause you speak the same language, and you kind of know what's going on and how life works," Quetzal said.

She and the other students also have had to adapt to changes in lifestyle.

Laura explained: "In Mexico, I went with my friends all the time, and I went to many parties, parks. Here, I don't have too many friends to go to a party. . . . It's different from what I've known."

"You have to have an adult with you, and in Mexico it's not like that," Quetzal said.

Transportation is another challenge that comes with living in the United States.

"In Mexico, you can go anywhere you want without a car. . . . It's not something you actually need, it's something you can get if you have money," Quetzal observed. "Here it's like you have to have a car or you have to have somebody who can drive you. So here I almost never do anything. I stay all day, watching TV or sleeping or playing with my cat."

All these factors combine to make it difficult for these students to feel like they're fitting in.

"There are still people who don't like us because of where we come from," Quetzal said.

"I think I have problems, too, because in the United States . . . every day they're bothering me," Jorge said of his peers.

"I think they treat us different because we are a different race, and I think we have more problems with black people," Laura said.

These students didn't expect so much change -- interpersonal and cultural -- because they view Mexico, the United States, Canada and beyond as a united land.

Said Quetzal, "America for me is not the United States. For me, it's from Alaska or Canada to Chile, which is the last part of America. We are a whole -- not a whole continent, but it's almost the same continent. We're still together, and we have religions that can be similar. For me, America is about two continents together."

Her opinion has changed

Quetzal's family returned to Mexico this summer. Perhaps in anticipation, she reflected on her experiences and changes in perceptions: "A lot of people in Mexico, they think that (the United States) is better and you will have more money and you will have a better life. I thought that, too, when I was in Mexico. But when you get here, you start seeing what's happening and how much you have to work for what you want, and it's really hard. And after a while, you decide (that) what the United States is giving you is not enough to cover that you miss your family and your country and you can't understand things.

"I have changed a lot since I got here. I'm still proud of where I come from, and I still want to go back, and I still want to be there instead of being here."

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Chad Flowers, 14, and Danielle Friedman, 18.

REPORTERS: Megan Brown, 13; Katie Qualkinbush, 14; and Natalie Perez, 12.