Journey of Child’s Dream: Italian exchange student experiences life as Buffalo

Ester Donnini, Italian foreign exchange student at Manteca High.

By ELISE DELEO 
The Tower 

MANTECA – Arriving at the airport with your entire life in a suitcase, here we are. It's the big day. You say goodbye to your parents, your friends, and everything you know. Next time you see them, it will be next year.  

A whole year. 

The stress, excitement, sadness, and joy all grip you at the same time; your exchange year can finally begin.  

What’s it going to be like?   

Every year, about 30,000 students across the world leave everything to experience the life of an American high schooler. Why did they make this decision? How will they handle homesickness or survive cultural shock? 

Am I really going to study in an American high school? 

Meet Ester Donnini, an Italian student, who at only 17 decided to live a year that will change her life. 

Ester lives in the Eastern part of Italy. She loves sports, cooking, and travelling but growing up, she realized that something was missing: an adventure. One day, she would go live her Californian dream. At the end of her junior year, it was clear – the time had come. She was ready. In July, with her suitcase and heart ready, she flew to the United States. 

Imagine starting your life from scratch again. You don’t know anybody. You don’t speak the same language. You don’t know the people whom you’re sharing a home with, but you are here to experience an American dream told to you through movies and film.  

Here we are. Here we go! 

That is what Ester is doing this year.  

Santiago Magana, a junior at Manteca High, met Donnini five months ago. More than just being friendly, he did his best to include her in his everyday life.  

“Being friends with an exchange student is an opportunity to discover new cultures, people, way of thinking, etc. I feel like you learn way more from an exchange student than you do from a friend from here,” said Santiago Magana, a Manteca High junior.  

In a world like ours, it is more important than ever to understand each other. Today, The Tower wants to introduce you to Ester Donnini, one of just two foreign exchange students at Manteca High School.  

The Tower: Why did you decide to leave for America for a whole year? 

Ester Donnini: It has been my dream since middle school. Because I've always been interested in discovering new cultures and improving my second language. Everyone talks about it, and it seemed so interesting and cool to me that I really wanted to do it.  

TT: Why did you choose America and not another country? 

ED: This is probably the first time I’m asking myself this question. From the beginning, I was 100% sure that I wanted to go to America. From a Europe point of view, America is a big country that matter for the world. It’s a country full of opportunities and, still, there is the American dream experience that every high schooler in the world want to live once in their lives.  

TT: What was your biggest fear before coming here, and what is your biggest fear now, knowing you'll go back to Italy in June and return to high school there? 

ED: My biggest fear before coming was the host family. This whole experience is based on the host family that will choose you: Their habits, their interest, things that you can do or not. It is the biggest question mark for your year. In some programs, you can choose a city or a state, but you never have any control on your host family. There is all the challenge and the interesting part of it. It makes you feel like your exchange year is really unique. Now, my biggest fear is not having progressed enough in English, or at least not as much as I would have liked, and that I won't have enough time to get there before the end of the year. At the same time, I know that I am making progress each day. 

TT: What was the more complicated things for you this year?  

ED: I would say Christmas time.  We had a lot of fun but it's a tough period for an exchange student. It was my first Christmas and New Year far away from my home, from my family, from my friends. It was kind of a weird time.  

TT: How did you handle this period? 

ED: I was always doing something. During winter break, I had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles with my host family. I was super happy to discover Disneyland and Universal studio. You have less time to be homesick when you are active. If I have one piece of advice, it is to always move and do something. If you stop and sit on the couch, you just start thinking about everything. So, even just going for a walk is really helpful to manage those hard times.  

TT: What is the biggest change you had to experience between Italy and the United States?  

ED: Probably my advanced healthcare class and basically the CTE program. In Italy, you only have access to those kinds of programs in college.  It’s a whole internship at the hospital and I can’t believe that I have the chance to be part of it.  

TT: Were your expectations about the United States finally true?  

ED: The high school vibe is really different from what I was expecting. Lots of exchange students are saying that it looks like movies, but I don’t really agree. It’s very different from what I was expecting. Friendship are different too. One day you can have a super friend, and the next day you’re not sure that they’re going to say hi to you if you see them. It’s just kind of weird sometimes, you never know how to act or react.  

TT: Was that disappointing? 

ED: At the beginning, yes. No one expect to be in high school musical but we’re seeing so many things in movies that we don’t know what to believe or not. Here, I see more of a “college vibe” that the classic American High school that Hollywood shows us.  

TT: If you had something to say to our school’s students, what would it be?  

ED: Go beyond what seems embarrassing or awkward. Be more chill and live your life for yourself.  

TT: What was your best experience here?  

ED: My best experience was my first HOSA competition. It was a lot of work, but I got first place. The competitions and leadership conferences are a very big opportunity for me to follow the medical path from here. I would like to become a doctor, and this is just an incredible program for every student who plans to pursue a medical career. 

TT: Is there anything here that you would have liked to have in Italy?  

ED: I have two things. First, the atmosphere at the football game. Students don’t realize it but in Europe, schools are not involved in sports. It is something out of school in Italy. You can only join a team and pay to play sport. Here, everyone is pretty much involved with sport. You see them on school’s social medias, everyone wants to talk about it, and especially the football games. The second one is the CTE program. In Europe, we don’t really have “hands on” teaching style compared to here where it is more than 80% of my courses. This advanced healthcare class is almost like a complete internship in a hospital. In Europe, you only have that opportunity during your 3rd or 4th year of medicine college. I never thought I would have the chance to experience something like this. 

Your life is someone else’s dream. Like Ester, a lot of teenagers around the world gather their courage and set off on an adventure, an adventure that you are part of. You can change the course of any exchange student’s life, and even more. As Santiago so well says: “Welcome them in with open arms and be more accepting. They’re probably not used to our culture and how different things are here. They're new here and they might not fully understand everything. Your help can change everything.”