Ely High School student Tracy Thibodeaux recently wrapped up her year abroad in Italy, sponsored by the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.
Now, she’s back in town and told stories of life overseas to a Tuesday Group audience on Sept. 21.
The exchange program runs throughout the entire academic year, with students attending high school in the locale of their placement.
Thibodeaux stayed with three families across three Northern Italy cities. Rotary International enrolled her in an economic and linguistic- focused school in Pavia for the duration of her exchange.
“The climate was sort of the same as here in Ely, but they didn’t get any snow,” Thibodeaux said. “I went a year without snow, which was weird.”
Thibodeaux said she arrived in Italy with no prior knowledge of the language. She said she became a speaker by “faking it till I make it.”
She first lived with a family who mostly spoke Bulgarian around the house, which she said posed an additional challenge for her Italian learning, though it allowed her to pick up some Bulgarian along the way.
Thibodeaux said her skills improved when she joined her second family.
“It clicked that, oh, I can do this. I can speak Italian, even if I am speaking and I mess it up,” Thibodeaux said. “That’s okay, because I’m in the process of learning it.”
Not only did Thibodeaux experience Northern Italy and Milan, but her first host family gifted her a birthday trip to Valencia, Spain, in December.
“My top pick for exchange was Spain. That was where I wanted to go. I wanted to learn Spanish and live in Spain for a year,” Thibodeaux said. “I’m very grateful I got Italy. It ended up being the best option for me.”
The Rotary-charted Italy and Euro Tours also brought Thibodeaux and other exchange students to Rome, Venice and Pompeii, plus Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, Budapest and many other cities.
Thibodeaux said one of her best friends from her year abroad was a French student, whom she met on a trip to the Alps.
“She spoke zero English and I spoke zero French. We had such a tough time communicating with each other, but she is still the person I would say I got closest to on that trip,” Thibodeaux said.
At exchange events, students would frequently bring instruments and make music.
“We’d all sing in different languages, all different songs, very off-key,” Thibodeaux said. “It was kind of the way of exchanges. No matter what event you went to, there was always somebody with a guitar and singing.”
Among many other experiences, Thibodeaux described trying sushi for the first time, visiting Sardinia, eating a Thanksgiving meal in Brescia, participating in Rotary service projects, traveling frequently with friends to Milan and more.
“Rotary is really proud of Tracy for going outbound. She did a great job and she’s doing a great job representing her youth exchange experience and Rotary,” said Ely Rotarian Susan Polege.
Polege encourages any local families interested in hosting an exchange student to reach out, whether they have children, don’t have children or are grandparent- age.
“The variety of each host family is really what makes it so rich,” Polege said.
Students ages 14. 5 through 18.5 may participate in an exchange. Polege said Rotary would love to see more Ely high schoolers travel abroad.
“If I could do this life all over again, I would choose to be an exchange student again,” Thibodeaux said. “I think it’s something everybody should do.”
