Last August, two students from opposite sides of the globe found their second home in Saratoga. After almost a year of assimilating American culture and a new way of life, foreign exchange students Cecilia Daolio and Miharu Morishita hoped to impart their interest in studying abroad to students. Daolio and Morishita advocated their exchange program and shared their experiences in America to students considering studying abroad at the CCC on March 2.
Both Daolio and Morishita traded a year from their high schools in Italy and Japan respectively to experience schooling in America through the AFS Intercultural Program.
“I wanted to try something different, to grow and to become more independent,” Daolio said to the group consisting mostly of underclassmen curious about reshaping the last part of their high school careers.
The program, whose initials previously stood for the American Field Service, began as a troop of volunteering American ambulance drivers in France during World War I. Now as international exchange organization that encompasses more than 50 countries, it gives students the possibility of learning a new language while either studying or volunteering in a different country.
“I had a big dream to come to America since I was 9, but I needed to speak English for my dream,” Morishita said. AFS, she found, supports students with limited to no knowledge of their country of visitation’s language, so the program offered her the perfect opportunity to carry out her dream. “I wanted to experience American life, food and relationships,” she said.
Daolio reflected on how the program effectively matches up students to locations and host families.
“You have to write a paper about yourself and list your top three countries,” Daolio said. “If you like to swim, they’ll try to put you in California. If you write that you like snow and to ski, they’ll put you in Ohio like they did with my friend.”
Students also fill out a similar survey to determine their compatibility with potential host families. Morishita, an avid break dancer, lives with her SHS host sister senior Valerie Person, who knows and loves many types of dances.
AFS also offers students and their families the opportunity to become hosts to foreign exchange students if they do not wish or aren’t able to leave their school for a year.
“You open your house to another student,” Daolio said. “It’s like you have part of that country in your house.”
Host families play an integral role in students’ transition to their new life by increasing the students’ comfort with the new language and by introducing them to different social opportunities outside of school.
Morishita’s interest in AFS actually began when she partook in hosting activities herself.
“Before I came here I hosted a foreign exchange student from Canada,” Morishita said. “She was very shy and I learned that I can’t be shy and I need to be patient to survive here.”
Morishita said that her exchange sister inspired her to participate in the program and reflected on the day when she got her first welcome call from Person.
“I was at my grandparents’ house when the phone rang,” she said. “I was afraid to pick up because I didn’t know the number.” Person said hello to her in Japanese and said that she would be her host sister. “I was so happy the hear it, but at the same time I was nervous because my English isn’t very good,” Morishita said.
Daolio on the other hand, didn’t have to do any waiting at all.
“I had one week to choose last year if I wanted to go,” she said. She doesn’t regret her hasty decision because she might have changed her mind with more time to think it over. “It depends on how you wake up in the morning,” she said.
Both Morishita and Daolio agree that their year abroad has been and continues to be the best year of their lives. Daolio, however, warned that there are still some hardships to overcome in the beginning.
“I don’t deny that it’s difficult, because the first period is hell,” she said. “You don’t have any friends versus your new classmates who know each other practically their whole lives.”
After a couple of weeks, though, comfort begins to settle in.
“You have your host family who is there for you, to help you and support you,” she said. “It can be hard, if you really are motivated, anyone can do it.”
If you are interested in pursuing a year abroad in high school, visit the program’s website: http://www.afs.org/
