Walk in their shoes

Riccardo Frangipane, an Exchange Student from Italy, is a junior at Mead High School. His hobbies include swimming and playing water polo, going to the gym, listening to music and watching movies. At his school back home, Riccardo was always interested in reading about the United States and enjoyed learning English a lot, but the way of studying in Italy lost its previous advantages for him. “I wanted to go abroad because I didn’t like my education system,” he explains.

He chose the EF (Education First) exchange program because it gives  the students a chance to study in a different country with the distinctive education system providing them with the corresponding conditions of staying. “The program allows me to remain in a family for a whole year [instead of] jumping from family to family,” Riccardo explains. He made a decision to apply for the program despite the necessity of moving away from his natural family and friends. He received a lot of confidence from his natives. “It wasn’t hard to leave my friends and my family because they supported [and] are supporting me.” And now, Riccardo is living with his host parents, attending his new school here at Mead High School and is going to take part in many activities he has yet to experience. “I want to join the clubs of robotics and FBLA  (Future Business Leaders of America) and [for] sports I [want to] do swimming and gym,” he says.

He found it great to be popular among American students as a representative from another country. “ I can meet a lot of new people and I love it,” he says. Also, Riccardo has defined the different features between his and an American schools. “In Italy, the students can not choose their subjects and don’t have lunch at school. We are out of the dialogues with the teachers, have a lot of homework. At American school I like the opportunity to choose my own classes and have a social interaction with my peers.”

Riccardo is willing to discover the culture of American people, become acquainted with the new traditions, and improve his English language skills. The one thing he is most excited about is hiking on the Rocky Mountains. In addition, he really wants to celebrate Thanksgiving. “We don’t have such holiday in my country,” he explains. Now Riccardo is on his way to accomplish all his expectations and is thinking about the future of his education. “I’d like to have a fulfilling experience in the USA and have good grades at school because I would like to receive a scholarship.”