08/01/2019
Great connections are made in student exchange! I love all these amazing people!
Exchange student, Matilde from Italy, has so many memories with her host family from her exchange year in Nebraska:
"Someone said that family is where you feel home.
Steve and Beth may not be our blood but they became our family... [They] always showed interest in getting to know us and our culture better. They never got tired of our stories and ideas and wanted to learn a lot about our traditions and countries.
We made a lot of great memories with them, like going on trips to South Dakota, Colorado and through Nebraska; playing card games; cooking and laughing together. We will never forget their laugh and big smiles, their love and caring side, their passion and patience, their wonderful characters. They made our dreams come true and did everything they could to make our exchange year the best year in our life. And we can say that it was. It is crazy how we have never been homesick (weโre not lying at all) and thatโs because of them. We gained a lot in being part of their family, mostly happiness. They were there on games and meets, school events and presentations; always supporting us and cheering for us on the benches. They gave us strength and always said how well we did even though we didnโt. They took us to a Husker football game; went to some concerts, gave us a ride to games and other activities; showed us wonderful places all over Nebraska, from Omaha to Chimney Rock, from the cornfields to the mountains.
They let us live the American life in showing us where they grew up and especially in sharing their traditions. Over Thanksgiving, we drove all the way to Estes Park in Colorado to meet part of the family, over Easter we drove all the way up to South Dakota to see the Sandhills, Black Forest and Mount Rushmore, which was one of our biggest dreams.
We love them since the first day and they became our family. They shared every moment with us and we are so proud to be able to call them our family."