The College welcomed five exchange students from Italy at the end of last term, who spent the first week shadowing a Year 11 student from their host family, before selecting their own subjects for this term. This is third year the College has participated in the exchange program, which also sees the hosting student spend two months in Italy at the end of this year.
Matilde comes from a “really small” village in the mountains near the Swiss border, Emma lives near Verona, “the city of Romeo and Juliet and of love,” while Gioia comes from Lecce in the south of Italy.
Frank Paladini lives in a small town close to Milan, and says that here “everything is wider, while in Italy everything is closer. Most of us live in flats.”
Simone (Simo) Biglia comes from the northwest of Italy in “a small village in the middle of nowhere”, where he sees the ocean once or twice a year. “But here, after a five minute walk, I can sit on the sand and watch the waves.” Matilde, too, says “I’m always really surprised when I wake up and I see the ocean.”
They agree that school in Italy is very different, because they choose a type of school at the start of high school, and then don’t get to choose their own subjects. Frank, for instance, attends an aeronautical school in Italy, which “doesn’t have a garden.” He says the relationship with teachers here is “more friendly.” There are also no lockers in Italian schools, so they carry their books around in their backpacks. “We study the same things,” says Matilde, “but in a different way.” The uniform, too, has been a novelty. “It makes me feel like a businessman!” said Simo.
All five students chose Australia because it seemed as far as possible from home. “In Italy,” said Simo, “talking about this country is really talking about the furthest place you could imagine.”
Matilde also said that this is where her grandmother grew up. “She always told me a lot of curious things about this place, and I couldn’t wait to see it all.”
Emma has been looking forward to the adventure, too. She says she’s here to test herself, meet new people and try to understand another culture, and looks forward to “learning to surf, seeing one of the pink lakes and taking quokka selfies”.
All the students found living in Busselton very different to Italy, but agree with Matilde, who says the people here are “really nice and helpful”, which makes them feel at home.
Matilde said the hardest thing about learning English has been not so much the grammar, but the way we communicate. “In Italy we use a lot of gestures that are not used here and they aren’t understood.”
The exchange students spent the break visiting a number of places with their host families, and are looking forward to much more over the next five weeks, including whale watching, seeing (and tasting) kangaroos and attending an AFL match. “I’m enjoying so many new experiences,” says Simo, “so thank you Australia!”
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