Root beer was a hit in my class...mostly

I have a class of Junior High school girls that loves to talk about food.It probably partly can be blamed on the fact that they come to my class hungry. Anyway, I recently went to a mall and in the mall they have a shop that sells American sodas and snack food. I decided to buy 1 can of soda so they could try something new. I picked root beer. I poured equal amounts into glasses and brought the glasses into the class and gave them each one. They kept asking "nan desuka? (what is it?). Cola? I said it wasn't cola but it was a famous soda in America and Canada. They picked up the glasses and sniffed. They didn't know what to make of it as they had never smelled anything like it before. One girl took a taste and said "omoishiroi" (interesting) and "umaii" (delicious). 2 of the other girls took sips. They kept commenting about the interesting flavor. 1 girl could not get past the smell. She even tried to hold her nose and sip but that didn't work so well. I told her not to worry about it. They were really interested in the different flavors of soda in North America. I told them I will bring them cherry vanilla coke next-they are really excited!
I love sending my family interesting Japanese snacks for them to try but watching these girls try different things is sooo much fun!