Reedy is home to students with all different types of backgrounds and cultures, and there are some students who have had their lives turned upside down due to one thing: The International Student Exchange Program.

“I wanted to be a foreign exchange student because I wanted to improve my English,” sophomore Maria Santuzzo said. “I am not very good now, but I hope to get better.”

Maria Santuzzo is from Trieste, Italy, and has lived there all her life. The ISE is random, so she did not know where she was going or who she would live with when she applied.

“My host family is the Freemans, and I love them,” Maria said. “I have been here for 3 weeks, and will be in America for one year.”

Transitioning to a country where the main language is not your own can make it very difficult to meet new people and be able to connect.

“The most surprising part has been how nice the people are,” Maria said. “I was nervous that I wouldn’t make any friends, but people are very easy to get to know here.”

Maria had to drop everything about her old life and leave the only home she has ever known.

“I miss my friends and family back in Italy the most,” Maria said. “I had a boyfriend, but we broke up because it would have been too hard to stay together.”

Not only is Maria still learning English, but she has to take classes like chemistry and world history in a language she hardly knows.

“One of the hardest parts being here is my classes and speaking English,” Maria said. “It can be hard for me to understand sometimes, but it’s something I have been working on.”

While in America, Maria will be able to visit different places throughout the year with her host family and her real family.

“I am going to Disney World in Orlando this summer, as well as New Orleans in December,” Maria said. “I have some family in New Orleans, so I will be able to see them at Christmas.”

America is a very different place than Italy, but it could provide as a home for Maria sometime in the future.

“America is somewhere I might consider living, especially when I can speak English fluently,” Maria said. “I would like to be a surgeon, so I will be keeping my options open for the future.”