Italian Exchange Student

[Lawdwaz]

For the last 8 days we have had a wonderful 17 year old gal from Bolzano Italy staying with us.  She will be here until Tuesday morning then with her group of 11 other student and one chaperon will head to Washington DC for 4-5 days.  Before they got here in Buffalo they spent 4 days in NYC.

 

In return, my daughter and 11 classmates will go to Bolzano for approx. the same amount of time in February.  They will spend 4 days in Rome and 4 in Paris sandwiched in between the stay in Bolzano. Each student stays with the family of the child that stayed at their house here in the US.  All the kids are in the Amherst school district.

 

Things have gone great since she arrived although, not surprisingly they are burning the candle at both ends!  Between shadowing at some of her classes and side trips they are all going full speed ahead. 

 

Tomorrow they have a full schedule between a sporting event here in town and then a trip to Niagara Falls.  Sunday they are having a big farewell dinner (although they don't leave till Tuesday) at another students house, 48+ people!!  We'll bring a vegetable casserole and a Sam's Club monster pie .  Turkey will be the main course...........................!!

 

Anyone else had an exchange student or done it yourself?

 

 

 

 

[First-light]

My niece did it in Paris. Wonderful experience. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[jjb4900]

we hosted a young lady from France about 7 or 8 years ago, good experience for my kids and hopefully her............oh, we live on L.I., so my wife and kids took her to our house in the Catskills for a few days to show her what NY really looks like.

[kpkot]

I went to amherst i remember them doing that when i went there about 10 years ago

[wooly]

Cool- did she send any letters back to Italy about our Buffalo wings yet, or are they not really anything special to write home about?

[Lawdwaz]

Cool- did she send any letters back to Italy about our Buffalo wings yet, or are they not really anything special to write home about?

 

I took a handful of post cards to the post office but can't read Italian............

[letinmfly]

I took a handful of post cards to the post office but can't read Italian............

 

I can...

[Lawdwaz]

I can...

 

[philoshop]

Sounds like quite an experience for everyone involved!

[Caveman]

Sounds like a cool experience.  I went to Depew so we didn't quite have the same resources to do stuff like that.  

[Lawdwaz]

Sounds like a cool experience. I went to Depew so we didn't quite have the same resources to do stuff like that.

Not sure what costs the school has paid towards this if anything but I can assure you it is not inexpensive at all for us...........definitely money well spent in my opinion.

[nyslowhand]

Putting the financial issue aside, a very cool experience for the kids from both worlds.

[Caveman]

Not sure what costs the school has paid towards this if anything but I can assure you it is not inexpensive at all for us...........definitely money well spent in my opinion.

 

I don't mean me, I mean the school itself.  Depew schools aren't exactly known for providing opportunities like that.  I think it sounds like an awesome experience for everyone involved.   

[Lawdwaz]

MY daughter just got home tonight from her end of this trip!  She spent the last three nights with her fellow classmates in Paris, France.  This morning they boarded a plane from Charles de Gaulle  airport and were in the air for a little over 8 hrs en-route to the Toronto airport.  Then they took a shuttle bus back home.

 

It was a long 2.5 weeks for us but with the phone app called "Whatsapp" and a little "FaceTime" we could keep in touch pretty good.  The 6 hour time difference was a problem of course.....

 

They were all over; Rome, Milan, Venice, Innsbruck, Paris and all points in between.  She took over 1000 pics with her Iphone....hopefully she weeds out some (MOST) of the lousy ones and prints only the best blue ribbon pics.

 

Funny thing, when all the kids piled off the shuttle bus they fell into their parents arms and lots of hugs and kisses flew.  All the kids then congregated at the back of the shuttle to grab their suitcases.  Each kid or their parents grabbed the appropriate luggage and then walked off to their cars, no goodbyes at all.  I thought that was strange and I said to my daughter. "what gives with that, nobody said goodbye"  She said, "ahh, we're all kind of tired of each other"!!   She said all was good but they just needed some time apart now!  They all are expected to be in school tomorrow morning of course, soon enough to see their buds. 

[Lawdwaz]

Cool- did she send any letters back to Italy about our Buffalo wings yet, or are they not really anything special to write home about?

 

I just saw this one wooly........they were very impressed with our wings over here, damned well be have been.

 

I asked my daughter if she wanted pizza for dinner tonight......she said NO WAY, too much over there!

[bkln]

No exchange students here but my last semester at Pace University during my M.S. degree years ago was "International Banking and Security" class, we went to London and Paris. That was the best 10 days of my college days. We were invited by the Bank of England for a pitch, visited Bletchley Park,Greenwich prime meridian and then spent few days around before heading to Paris on EuroStar Train (this demon runs at 200 mph). Then visit at Sorbonne, Montmartre, La Defense and of course some Paris nightlife. In my opinion if you or your kids have a chance to do it DO IT. They will never forget it and it is purely awesome to see the real life on the other side of the pond, worth every penny. If it was up to me a class like that should be mandatory in college. Glad to hear it worked out for your Fam Law.

[phade]

I spent some time in the Netherlands, Amsterdam and the Hague while a junior in high school and stayed with a Dutch family. Such a mix of cultural identity there. The family was absolutely fantastic. Parents really cared about their kids, they were pleasant, and it just seemed like a fun place to grow up.

 

Got to see Amsterdam's rich history, Anne Frank house (that was a mind-blower for me), and plenty of the stereotypical Amsterdam impurities. The Hague was impressive because of the United Nations presence and the historical tourist stuff. I was able to tour the ICOJ and also attended a war criminal tribunal because I was an officer for the international model UN conference taking place.

 

However I certainly burned the candle at both ends.The kids I stayed with were less than a year older than me and it was nothing for us to be at the pub until the sun started to peek through, and we'd bike home (bicycles everywhere!), shower, change, attend school or the UN conference, and repeat. After day 4 in a row of this, I realized as an American who generally took some pride in being from a small town where keg parties and such were the norm...I couldn't remotely hang with them. The funny thing was though, the kids were dead serious on studies and full throttle "work hard, play hard" mentality. Right after class was the informal snack time, where studies/homework would take place, we get cleaned up for dinner, relax, and then head out around 9ish to the pub. One is an architect now and the other is in finance/business. I have the utmost respect for them.

 

There was a group of about 8 of us from wNY that were selected to go to this, and it was probably the highlight of my time in high school outside of sports. Kids that don't get to experience going abroad miss out, plain and simple. Glad to see you/your daughter made it happen and that she had a fun time. It goes by fast.

 

As far as funding, my parents/grandparents and I paid a portion of it, the school donated some money, my class fund donated money, and finally, the community (Lions, Rotary, etc.) held a couple fundraisers to generate the money needed to go on this. Two of us from the school district were selected, the only district with two participants and my small community took some pride in it. It was humbling.

 

My stepdaughter never got the chance to go abroad for school, but we took her to Europe in 2012 after graduation from high school. It was fun watching someone realize there is more in this world than the USA's impression of it. She was amazed at the Scottish Highlands. 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2015 by phade

[dirt_a_KISS]

Are school offers that program, it's pretty cool learning about the different cultures and what not. We had it wear the student would stay a full year. Hope you have a fun time with the whole thing

[virgil]

It's great for kids (and adults) to be exposed to different cultures.  When my kids are old enough, I hope they'll have similar opportunities.

 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”