ENNIS (AP) -- Jeetu Yadav spends three days a week grating cheese, slicing vegetables and doing other prep cooking tasks at the Continental Divide restaurant here.

To many people, it may seem like a basic summer cooking job in a tourist town.

But for Yadav, who is from India, the work is a chance to gain exposure to the United States, gain work experience and learn about the restaurant trade.

It fits in perfectly for the 22-year-old who is studying hotel management at his university in India.

''It's foreign experience and it's an experience for my future,'' he said. ''Working over here is a huge experience for me.''

He gains a lot more than hourly pay of $8 and a share of the tips at the restaurant, he said. Working in the kitchen is real world and he said watching the way the restaurant operates will help his career when he returns home.

He plans to make a video of the kitchen and show it as a class presentation.

Yadav is one of more than a dozen foreign college students who come to Ennis every summer. They work at the local grocery store, clean hotel rooms and wait tables as part of the program that sets up college kids, from around the globe, with temporary jobs in the United States.

The program, called Work and Travel USA, makes it possible for thousands of college students to earn money while gaining experience, improving their use of the English language and traveling.

Expenses covered by the students include airfare and visa fees. They work for four months and have an additional month to travel. They pay taxes on their earnings, just as Americans do.

The biggest benefit, students say, is the boost their resumes will get from working abroad.

Business owners in Ennis say the program is just as beneficial for them.

Employers who hire international students through the program must guarantee at least 30 hours a week and provide or find housing for their workers. They say it's worth it, because they struggle every year to find help.

It's not that local kids aren't willing to work, but rather that there simply are not enough young people to fill the service jobs in town during the busy summer tourist season, said Joel Shows, owner of the Fan Mountain Inn.

''We've managed every year to find help, but it seems like every year it got a little bit tougher to find people to do the housekeeping,'' he said. ''That 18-to-25 age group in this town and in this county is pretty much gone.''

Continental Divide owner Eric Trapp was among the early business owners in Ennis to bring foreign students to town when he started seven years ago. Like Shows, he said he hires Americans for jobs, but often he simply doesn't get enough applicants to run his restaurant.

Not only are there few young people of working age around Ennis, but the ones who do live there often take jobs that pay higher than the rate for service positions, said Chris Gentry, owner of Madison Foods.

''They can go work for a contractor and make a lot more money and who can blame them?'' she said. ''If it was me, I'd be working for them, too.''

She and her husband, John, hire international students every summer as cashiers, stockers and bakers, among other jobs. She said workers earn $8 an hour, more than minimum wage but still too low to attract enough local people.

Gentry said that without the international help, the store would be hard pressed for summer staff when business picks up.

And the young people who come over are hard workers, she said. Many work two or even three jobs, juggling schedules to make as much money as possible.

''Their work ethic can put some people to shame,'' Gentry said.

On top of getting extra help, Gentry said she has learned a tremendous amount about the world through the people who have come to work for her. Over the past five years she's had people from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Brazil, Peru and Poland work at the store.

Gentry said she learned that Russians were taken aback when customers smiled at them.

''At first the Russians were always afraid if you smiled at them because you are supposed to be afraid of people who smile at you,'' she said.

That cultural trait is similar in eastern European countries, too, said Elena Ciobanu, 21, a native of Moldova working at Madison Foods. A senior studying international economic relations, she said it took her awhile to adjust to aspects of U.S. culture.

''People here are saying 'Hello, how are you?''' she said. ''If you say 'How are you?' (in Moldova), people are looking at you like what happened to you.''

Gentry has seen many of her summer employees send checks home to their parents, something she said was a sign of the different cultures and expectations of family.

Ennis residents have also learned from having people from around the globe, Trapp said. He's seen a change in locals' attitude toward the international workers over the years.

''The first year that I had them here, a lot of the town was pretty xenophobic about it,'' he said.

But people quickly became used to the international workers and grew friendly, Trapp said.

The adjustment in Ennis went both ways.

The work program sends international students throughout the country. Yadav's classmates ended up in Florida or Colorado, and California is a big destination as well, he said.

Ennis isn't exactly on the map as a major spot for summer jobs. Yet Yadav said he chose to work for Trapp because the Continental Divide is an excellent restaurant where he can learn a lot.

He doesn't see Ennis as boring. It's more of a relaxed place where people live at a different pace.

And despite Ennis's remote location, several of the students interviewed said its feeling of security and stunning scenery makes it a great place for the summer.

Svetlana Esir said that after growing up in Chisinau, the capital of her native Moldova, she had reservations about coming to tiny Ennis. After a month here, she has grown fond of the town.

''I thought it was strange that I would be in a town where everybody knew each other and everybody would know you are here,'' the 20-year-old said. ''But people here are very nice. It's become our second house.''