HYDRO — Hydro-Eakly has one student who travelled many miles for the first day of her senior year — more than 5,000 miles to be exact.
Maddalena Gianaroli grew up in the northern region of Italy in village by the mountains. When she began high school three years ago, she traveled to a larger city for her education.
But for her fourth year of high school, Gianaroli wanted to travel even more.
“I signed up for an exchange student program. I waited for more than a year, and then about a month ago I found out I was going to come here. But I didn’t know anything, I just knew I was going to the United States,” Gianaroli said.
According to Gianaroli, students can have a say in where they will travel, “but that’s not what I wanted to do,” she said. She wanted to be surprised.
While Gianaroli was excited about the international travel, her family had mixed feelings.
“My mom was supportive. She knew I have been wanting to do this since I was younger. But my dad thought I was too young to go,” she said. “I’m also an only child, his only daughter. He didn’t want me to, but he couldn’t say no because he used to travel a lot for work.”
In the end, her dream of traveling was realized, but she did not have long to prepare.
It was less than a week before she left her home when she learned she would spend her senior year in Hydro. “It was six days before I got on the plane I heard where I was going,” Gianaroli said. “So I had six days to prepare.”
Once she arrived to her new home, she met her host family for the year — Charl and Jami Marais and their three young daughters, Mia, Merci and Mayla. Jami said they learned of the foreign exchange program through a Facebook post, and they wanted to participate.
“We absolutely love Maddy. She has adapted into our home and into our family. I encourage anyone who is on the fence about hosting to host. It’s a lot of fun and you get to know someone from the other side of the world,” Jami said.
Not only does Gianaroli get to experience life in America, but she also gets to see what it’s like to not be the only child in the house. “I always wanted siblings. And I’m never bored, let’s just say that,” she said.
While the young children in the house may keep her busy, Gianaroli said the schoolwork is much less than in Italy. In her home country, students choose their career path after middle school, and then they study that one subject area for five years in high school. Gianaroli chose languages as her focus in high school.
“Basically, I went to school for four hours, and then I had five or six hours of study every day,” she said. “Here, I don’t know what to do with myself because I don’t have anything to study.”
The two learning systems are very different, but Gianaroli believes the experience will help her learn even more. “It’s a different method. It doesn’t mean it’s worse or better. It’s something I think will help me a lot.”
Due to COVID-19, Gianaroli said schools in Italy were in lockdown for two years, and the following year still required students to follow strict restrictions. No sporting events or social activities took place, but that will not be her experience while she is in Hydro.
Not only is Gianaroli a cheerleader, but she is also in the FFA. One of the first things she did after coming to Hydro was helping serve nachos, walking tacos and chili cheese hotdogs at the Hydro Free Fair.
“Here in Hydro I think there is a since of community,” she said. “It was very shocking for me to see kids would go and work for free during their weekend and just work for the community. That is something Italian kids would never do. That’s something we’re lacking in Italy, and I really like it here.”
Gianaroli said she has enjoyed living in America and learning the culture, but she still is struggling to get used to the food. She said shortly after arriving to Oklahoma, a new friend wanted her to try American pizza. Gianaroli said it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t real pizza. She called it “fake pizza.”
“I’ve been adapting to everything just fine — language, and culture and stuff is just fine. The only thing is food. Food here is completely different, so I’m having a problem adjusting to it. It’s not that it’s bad,” she said.
Even though the food is much different than the Italian fare of her home, Gianaroli still is fully involved with the community and her education at Hydro-Eakly.
“She has done so much more than what I would have expected from someone from a different country. We’re really proud of her. She has mended in with everything,” Jami Marais said.
After this school year, Gianaroli will travel back to Italy to complete her fifth year of high school required by her home country. After that, she said she may come back to the U.S. for college.
“Italy high school has five years, so I have one more year there, but who knows? Maybe I’ll come back here for university,” she said.