Students From Abroad Spending The School Year In Waitsburg

WAITSBURG - Waitsburg High School has two new faces this year and those faces look just like the regular students, they're just from abroad.

Franchesco Nobili, 18, and Katharina Koch, 15, are spending time in Waitsburg this school year to learn about the culture and the country they've seen in the movies.

"I thought it would really change my life," Nobili said. "A different country could open my mind."

Nobili is from Magliano Sabina, Italy. He is stoic, quiet and reserved with a little nervous laugh that he emits while trying to pick the right English words in conversation.

Nobili learned about the exchange program through the association his father works for and competed against hundreds of other students to get the chance to study abroad in the U.S. To apply, he had to take an English test, be interviewed and take psychological tests, he said.

Nobili arrived in Waitsburg Sept. 14 and will be here the whole school year living with Superintendent Dr. Carol Clarke. His first impression of Waitsburg is that it is a little city and he's excited to meet the local people.

His day is like a normal American teenager's day, filled with football practice and school.

"I find the American way of life so similar to mine (in Italy)," he said.

Nobili said he's not having a hard time adjusting to Waitsburg life at all, well, other than the food, which he said is the biggest difference.

"But I like it, too," he said with a laugh.

His favorite food so far was the buffalo he had at the Fall Festival.

School is also different in that it's more fun and there are more subjects to choose from, Nobili said.

In Italy, he had to take courses such as Latin, Greek, Italian and History. here, he's enrolled in creative writing, English, U.S. history, guitar and web page design.

"I'm trying new things," Nobili said. "And people are friendly and they help you."

Nobili is set to be in town until June 25, but he said he might visit home if he wants. Right now, he's even scheduled to have Christmas in Waitsburg.

"Sometimes I'm homesick, but not often," Nobili said.

In Italy, he lives with his parents and a 12-year-old sister. He played rugby and played saxophone in the city band until recently when he decided he no longer enjoyed it.

In addition to improving his English, he also wants to continue playing sports like basketball, baseball or maybe even wrestling this year.

"I want to try typical American sports," Nobili said.

After he spends this year in Waitsburg, he will return to Italy for one more year of schooling. The, he plans to attend college to study graphic design.

He's having such a good time so far, he knows June 25, the day he will have to leave, will be tough.

"I think it will be difficult to leave my friends and family here who have been (my) home," Nobili said.

Koch, a happy young woman from Cologne, Germany, is different from Nobili in culture and personality, but she wants the same thing from her experience in Waitsburg.

"I wanted to learn this new culture," she said.

Koch's 17-year-old brother was an exchange student last year in Alabama and she thought it would be fun to visit the place all of her favorite movies and music are from.

Waitsburg is very different from Cologne, which boasts more than 1 million people.

She is staying with the Harris family in town for five months and is adjusting really well.

"It's a little bit like the movies," she said.

She came to town on Sept. 1 and is enjoying the team spirit in the school and the town, especially attending the Cardinal football games and the cheers shouted in the bleachers. Back in Germany, Koch kept busy with school and dance class, where she studied hip-hop dancing. She has two brothers, ages 17 and 9.

At Waitsburg High School, she's on the volleyball team and is thinking about playing basketball as well.

School is different because class sizes are a lot smaller and she's enjoying more oneon one time with her teachers. Also, she likes how the students participate more in the lessons.

At school in Germany, she had to take traditional science, math and language classes. She took English in school and her fluency in the language is impressive. This isn't her first time visiting an English-speaking country. Koch lived with a host family in England for two weeks before. She enjoyed it so much; she wanted to stay abroad longer. And she hasn't been homesick either.

"I've been a little bit homesick, but not that much," she said. "I thought it would be worse."

Waitsburg is the small town she was expecting and she's happy to find so much in common with her new classmates. She does plan on dancing the night away at the Homecoming Dance at the end of the month and said her favorite part of Waitsburg life is the feeling of unity and spirit in the community.

"I like the whole team spirit at games, everyone's all together and the energy (is great)," she said.

After her time in Waitsburg, she will have 2.5 years left in school and then she might go to college to study English, she said. Having two exchange students in a small school like Waitsburg is a lot, and Dr. Clarke said one year the district actually had four, and now they cap it at two.

She said having four exchange students made it tough because rather than integrating into their new culture, they banded together, Clarke said.

The host families are selected by the exchange student agencies and Clarke herself has been a host parent to eight different students.

"And I've had eight very good experiences," she said.

Waitsburg High School and the local agency representatives give plenty of help to students and host parents, she said. And at the end of the exchange student's time in Waitsburg, Clarke has found one thing to be similar.

"They all want to come back," she said. "They really develop strong relationships with their families, schools and peer groups."

She sometimes keeps in touch with her past exchange students and has twice visited one in Romania and hears from others sporadically. She encourages local families to take in a student because host parents learn just as much as the students.

"It broadens your perspective of the world," she said. "It's not burdensome."

Of course once they're back in their hometowns after the program, it takes some adjusting, Clarke said, but the students always manage.

"And they have a wonderful memory," she said.