A Journey That Starts But Never Ends

“Your journey with AFS starts, but it never ends, because it will be with you for the rest of your life." If you have ever studied abroad with AFS- or hosted an AFS student- you can probably relate to this! In the episode, Sarah and Tommaso share how their lives have been profoundly shaped by AFS. Discover how AFS fosters a lifelong connection to global citizenship and hear firsthand accounts of personal and professional growth. 
Sarah has been a host sister to a girl from Brazil, a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova, and an AFS staff member. Tommaso from Italy started as an AFS exchange student in Houston, then became an AFS volunteer after his program. He is currently back in the US, interning at AFS-USA. These stories exemplify the lasting impact of cultural exchange. This is the #AFSeffect!

Guests:
Sarah Radermacher
Tommaso Casavecchi

Study Abroad with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/study-abroad
Volunteer with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/volunteer
Host with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/host
Educator Resources: www.afsusa.org/educators
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org

Transcript

Kate M.
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. I’m Kate Mulvihill. The AFS Exchange is a podcast by AFS-USA where we open the door to hear from members of our AFS family. This is a place to have conversations, or exchanges, with AFS host families, students, volunteers, and educators.

In this episode, I hear from two people who have woven AFS into the very fabric of their lives, long after their initial involvement with the program. Our guests today, Sarah and Tommaso, have experienced firsthand how AFS has the power to transform lives and foster a lifelong connection to global citizenship. As Tommaso says in our interview, “Your journey with AFS starts, but it never ends, because it will be with you for the rest of your life."

Sarah's AFS journey started with her as a host sister… this interest in intercultural exchange was part of what encouraged her to become a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova after graduating college. Drawing upon the valuable lessons learned from AFS, she has integrated those experiences into her job at AFS-USA, making a profound impact on the lives of students, staff, and volunteers.

Tommaso, from Italy, embarked on a life-changing adventure when he spent a year in Houston, Texas as an AFS exchange student. This valuable experience led him to become an AFS volunteer after returning to Italy, actively engaging with other young people and supporting pre-departure and reentry camps. Not stopping there, he has now chosen to spend a college semester back in the States, intern with AFS-USA, and continue his journey of personal growth and global understanding.

[Music]

Kate M.
First up, Sarah.

Sarah R.
I'm Sarah Rademacher and I live in Little Falls, Minnesota.

Kate M.
Did you grow up in Minnesota?

Sarah R.
I did. I was born and raised here. Although I've lived out of Minnesota and returned back to raise my own family.

Kate M.
So how did you first hear about AFS?

Sarah R.     
That's a great question. I think I first heard about it when I was in elementary school. My sister is six years older than I am, and so when she was in high school, she would be friends with the exchange students.
And so I think the AFS folks in our community, kind of targeted my parents as potential hosts. And we did host in elementary school. AFS used to have these bus stop families. So students would travel from wherever they were living to wherever they were departing.
We'd have students stay with us for a weekend. And I in particular, remember a young man from Egypt and a young woman from France. And even though we had very limited hours together, it was just really neat as a younger kid, to have these teenagers from all over the world stay with us for a few days and thinking how neat that was and how brave they were. So that was really our first introduction to AFS and then my family hosted a student when I was in eighth grade for a full academic year.

Kate M.
So Sarah had an early introduction to AFS exchange students. After being a Bus Stop Family for a few years, Sarah’s parents decided to host a student for the whole year. This was shortly after Sarah’s older sister left for college.
Initially, they were considering a student from the Czech Republic, because her father’s background is Czech. However, they ended up hosting a teenage girl from Brazil.

Sarah R.    
Her name was Alice.

Kate M.
Alice, okay.

Kate M.     
Sarah was, of course, used to being a younger sister. However, the sibling dynamic between her and Alice was very different from that between her and her older sister.

Sarah R. 
I think that the age difference between us ended up being really important in our relationship. She was maybe a little bit more shy and introverted, and maybe not very confident in her English when she arrived. But because I was in eighth grade, and not in high school with her when she went to high school, she couldn't rely on my friendship groups or things like that, she really needed to put herself out there and get to know other students. And there were quite a few exchange students from AFS and other programs at our high school that year, so she was able to connect with the international students pretty quickly, and make her own relationships.
But I think for her, I was a really safe place where she could practice her English and ask questions without being embarrassed because I wasn't a peer, I really was a little sister. And I didn't always know stuff, because I was young, too. And so I think that really helped her, build her confidence in English and ask cultural questions about what she was experiencing that was odd or weird to her. And it was a safe place for her to learn those things.

Kate M.    
That's great. And that makes sense.

Sarah R.     
You know, no sibling rivalry either. Right? 
It wasn’t like, Do I have to bring her to this party with me? Like, I need alone  time or whatever. Like, we just had separate social spheres.

Kate M.     
Right. And the fact that she was older and knew more about life, but she couldn't necessarily say that in English. And she didn't know about Minnesota. So in that way, you have the upper hand. So yeah, it was kind of balanced out.

Sarah R.    
Yeah. And we didn't necessarily have a lot of common interests. She was more into, you know, fashion. And I don't know, and I was more sports and tomboy. But it was you know, it was okay.

Kate M.     
Was there anything about her that surprised you?

Sarah R.     
I think our relationship maybe surprised me in some ways because my sister was six years older and really did her own thing at that time. You know, having Alice around a little bit more was neat. Like she would help me do the dishes after dinner each night. And we still talk about that as a great bonding time we would dance we would talk we would listen to music. She was she had a great sense of humor, and we would tell a lot of jokes and you know, it'd be a good time for us to bond and it was nice for me to feel like I had helped because not something my own sister would ever do with me at that age. She does now but not then.
And I also remember maybe on the negative side just feeling a little jealous sometimes because she would have more of my parents attention because my biological sister was so independent. I had a lot of my parents attention, especially when she went off to college. So now here having another person in our family who needed attention and had questions… we very much treated her as part of the family.

In fact, I remember a great story where the fall homecoming dance was coming up, and somebody had invited her to homecoming. And she was telling my dad that she was going to go to homecoming. And my dad said, Well, you need to bring him over here. I need to meet him. And she at first was very offended, right? Like, why would you need to meet this guy. And she later could talk about how it took me a while, but I understood dad that you asked him to come over because you didn't know him and you wanted to beat me to be safe and that you love me. That you are treating me like you would your own daughter. And I love that she came to that realization and could thank him even though her initial reaction was to be very upset, like, why do you need to get in my business, you know. So that is all of that is to say that we really did very quickly early on, and still to this day treat her as part of our family. But I remember there were some times that I became jealous in a way I hadn't really experienced because I didn't always have my parents’ attention. But it was also a great opportunity for my parents to remind me that I was important and loved. Even though there's another person in my family. Good life skills. I still remember some conversations with my dad around that, that probably only made us closer.

Kate M.     
Hmm. Very interesting. Okay. So you as a person learned about yourself and like kind of where you fall and how you feel about certain things based on your older sister, but then being able to kind of like examine a different side of yourself and how you feel about things during this one year long... it's kind of like making you stretch your emotions in a different way. Like putting you in positions you wouldn't be in otherwise. Absolutely. Which is not always comfy, but it's usually important, it's usually good.

Sarah R.   
Yeah, exactly. I mean, overall, I remember the experience being positive. But like all things in life, it wasn't necessarily always sunshine and sunshine and roses for me. Right? They were right. It takes conflict sometimes to really be able to grow and, and have a much more powerful and meaningful experience.

Kate M.    
Absolutely, absolutely. Let's see. What did you learn about different cultures and people around the world after hosting an exchange student?

Sarah R.     
A couple of things come to mind. First of all, my parents recently moved out of their home because they're older, and my mom had saved a bunch of things. And I had forgotten that while Alice was living with us, my 8th grade geography class, you had to do a big project on a country of your choice. Well, naturally, I picked Brazil, because Alice was living with us. So I had this first hand resource. But it was such a great thing to be, like studying the country and learning more about its political makeup, and its nature and have this person living with us, you could talk a little bit about customs, and we would make some of her favorite dishes from home versus just reading about them in a book. So that was kind of neat to really dive deeper into Brazil. And probably neat for her that I was curious, right? I was asking questions, I was engaging a little bit more because of this project, too. I feel very lucky that my family had some international intercultural exposure, even though our local community wasn't terribly diverse.
My dad at that time was doing a work project. It was kind of right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that he spent some time in both Russia and Estonia. My dad runs a community leadership program and was involving people from Russia and Estonia in that program that they could replicate back home. So he did some traveling, we had Russians and Estonians who stayed with us for a while.
So I'm grateful that my parents were able to expose us to a variety of cultures and backgrounds at such a young age, I imagine it's played a role and who I've turned out to be.

Kate M.
So as we’ve heard, Sarah had a number of intercultural experiences in her own home while she was growing up. Even though she didn’t live in a very diverse community, she was still exposed to a number of people from different backgrounds thanks to the AFS students and her father’s work.
After finishing high school, Sarah went to college at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. During that time, she did have a few more international experiences. She studied abroad in London and had an opportunity to do a travel tour in China and Japan.
However, she regretted never having an immersive, family experience abroad. That was one of many reasons why she decided to join the Peace Corps after college.

Sarah R.
Yeah. I think I came from a community where there was a lot of fear. Even when people found out I was joining the Peace Corps. I remember someone asking my mom, like, How can you let her do that? And my mom, who being a mom, was nervous about me going overseas to a third world country for a couple of years, was like, How could I not let her see the world? You know, this is important. So I'm glad that my parents were able to kind of get out of that mindset and be supportive and hope that doing the same with my own kids.

Kate M.
The Peace Corps is a volunteer program established by the U.S. government in 1961. Its mission is to promote peace and friendship by sending American volunteers to work in developing countries. Volunteers serve in various sectors such as education, health, agriculture, and environmental conservation, helping to address the needs of local communities and fostering cross-cultural understanding.
In 2023, there are Peace Corps volunteers in over 60 countries. From Costa Rica to Cambodia, Botswana to Belize, Madagascar to Moldova.
And that’s where Sarah went- Moldova. It’s about the size of Maryland and is in between Ukraine and Romania. The official language spoken there is Romanian.

Sarah R.     
I signed on to be a community and organizational development volunteer. So I did that fresh out of college. Moldova had a lot of Peace Corps volunteers, but a lot of them were known as being English teachers.
So I think people were like, What are you doing in our country? And what are you offering, especially if you're not at school, teaching English to our kids? So it took a while for me to learn the language and build relationships, and learn the culture and then be able to have an impact. So I worked with nongovernmental organizations trying to help them meet their missions. Become more sustainable, secure, regular funding sources, those kinds of things. But the things that I really took away from it are the relationships I made with the people I worked with the people I lived with.

I had an unique connection to high school exchange, because Moldova is part of the FLEX program, the Future Leaders Exchange Program, AFS, hosts a lot of FLEX students every year. But there were some kids in my community who had just spent a year in the U.S. and had come back to finish high school in Moldova. And that culture shock for them was very difficult, you know, they had this incredible experience living with a family for a year in the U.S., and then came home to this country where they didn't have indoor plumbing. A lot of the amenities that they became used to in the U.S. were gone. And very few people could understand what they had just experienced in the U.S. And so those kids kind of sought me out because I knew what life was like in the U.S., And I was learning what life was like in Moldova. These were incredible young people who would have a lot of opportunity to leave the country and do other things, especially with their English language skills. And it's always a hope that we can use their experiences to make their own country better.

Kate M.
Sarah mentioned the FLEX program. This program brings in students from across Eurasia and provides them with the opportunity to study in the United States for an academic year, live with an American host family, and engage in cultural exchange activities. The program aims to develop leadership skills, promote mutual understanding, and build lasting connections between the participating countries and the United States.
She also highlighted the goal of having students use their experiences in the U.S. to make their home country better. This is the case for all FLEX countries, but in terms of Moldova… emigration is a huge phenomenon there, with about 25% of the Moldovan population living abroad.
Emigration from Moldova has been a significant trend in recent years. Economic factors, such as low wages and limited job opportunities, have been some of the major drivers of emigration. Many Moldovans seek better economic prospects and higher living standards in countries like Russia, Italy, Spain, and Germany. The emigration of skilled professionals, including doctors and engineers, has led to challenges for the Moldovan labor market and economy.
So, back to Sarah. She had just met some FLEX alumni who had just returned to Moldova from the States.

Sarah R.
And so I did spend a lot of time working with a couple of them. I did have one organization that kind of tricked me into starting an English club. And I really didn't want to teach English in a formal way that wasn't really my interest or my skill set. But I was tricky too, because I roped one of these high schoolers who had just come back from the U.S. to be my assistant. So I was the draw- people wanted to come and meet the American, but I actually worked with her to create the lesson plans and run the lessons. And I really wanted her to develop those life skills around planning and teaching. And she was just incredible. Anyway, we became quite a good team. So that felt like a success story.

Kate M.
Sarah came back from her time with the Peace Corps and has been working on and off with AFS for nearly 20 years. It's like she brought a piece of her Midwest upbringing to Moldova, and now she's brought her Moldova experiences back to the Midwest. Full circle.
In one of her positions, she worked with a number of the AFS volunteer teams in Wisconsin. She would travel there regularly for school presentations and to meet with the AFS volunteers.

Sarah R.     
And there was a big dance and a big AFS dance that I was invited to. And I went, because I had done school presentations, the day in it something else going on the next day or the weekend. And I was like, oh, go to this dance. And as kids arrived from all different parts of Wisconsin, it was falland  it was one of the first times they had seen each other since arriving. So the people were forming in these little country groups to talk in their native language because they had been speaking English only really in the U.S. since they had arrived. So there's a pocket of Italians and whatever. And I knew that there was a FLEX student from Moldova in the area, and I hadn't met her and I didn't really know but I, asked one of the adults they're like, Do you know where this student from Moldova as they pointed around, she was kind of standing by herself because nobody else spoke her language. So I went up and said hello to her and Romanian and started talking. She was just so excited to have someone to speak her native language with while all these other people were connecting with others, so that was kind of a nice surprise story. Speaking Romanian doesn't come in handy in the U.S. terribly often, but that was fun.

Kate M.     
Yeah, I wouldn't really think there would be a lot of opportunities to just speak Romanian, but I'm glad that you found one and, and made that dance a little bit less uncomfortable for her.

Sarah R.     
Right, right. Eventually they all blended and, you know, together but that draw of like, Oh, we're gonna catch up in Italian or whatever.

Kate M.
So, between Sarah’s experiences as a host sister growing up… her time abroad in college and her Peace Corps experience in Moldova… and all her work with AFS-USA through the years. I asked her what effect all of this intercultural exchange has had on her U.S. identity.

Sarah R.     
My Peace Corps friends, and I joke even still, even though I came home from the Peace Corps, it'll be 20 years this year that I finished my Peace Corps experience, it still feels like a party trick, right? Like if I'm getting to know someone, and I don't know what else says like, Well, I was in Moldova. I just have so many stories. But beyond that, I mean, truly having international connections, whether just having hosted, and certainly all my different experiences abroad, I think it just makes a person more open to different perspectives to different ideas.
And with the current political climate in the U.S., that's just such an important skill and even to say, “I don't have to agree with you, but I can recognize and maybe even respect that you have a different point of view and that that's okay.” It’s really powerful. You know, I see in my very rural community, there are people of course, who've never left here, never had that opportunity. The fear they have of things that are different. You know, an immigrant family will move in and they're just the amount of fear some people have. It's surprising to me because that isn't my reaction. Usually it's like, Great, like we have someone new, a new perspective. And I'm sure starting in those early days, even with the AFS bus stop just having people who came from different places in our house piqued my curiosity and my interest and not a sense of fear. And I think that's really important.
I love even, you know, my seven year old when the war started in Ukraine, he was savvy enough to know that that was right next door to Moldova and that we, you know, we still eat some traditional Moldovan foods and, and, and that meant something to him. I was immediately checking in with my family and friends in Moldova, my town was just a half an hour from the Ukrainian border. Nowhere in Moldova is far from Ukraine, and so there's a lot of fear. And so he was like, We have to have some traditional Moldovan food tonight, mom, and we have to, we're worried about our friends in Ukraine. And I'm confident there was no other seven year old in our town, who probably even knew where Ukraine was. Or Moldova for that matter. I think that's just pretty neat. You know, as a parent, you hope that you're raising your kids to be good citizens. And I think my kids are taking the right step towards being good world citizens. They're not always going to get it right. But they're taking the right step. And that's pretty neat, too.

Kate M.
This year is the 75th anniversary of AFS-USA... why do you think AFS’s mission is just as important today as it was 75 years ago?

Sarah R.     
Right. I mean, as much as we like to think we're making the world a better place, and we are one person at a time. It's a big world. And there's still a need for greater understanding. You know, I think when the pandemic started, there was a sense among people that I knew that maybe this pandemic was going to bring us together, right, we all had a common thing that we were facing, and we soon soon, we're reminded that we might have all been in the same storm, but we all had different resources to get through that storm. And that in some ways, it didn't bring people together. And politically, at least in the U.S., it maybe pushed and divided us more.
And I can't say enough how important that AFS mission is bringing people together, and, and helping us realize how much we have in common and that it's okay to have differences too, that doesn't, you know, it's not always a bad thing to be different, is still really powerful. You know, sometimes I think that AFS wouldn't, wouldn't hurt us to explore more domestic exchanges to people from other parts of the U.S.. I understand that logistically, that's incredibly complicated. But that concept of just bringing people together no matter where in the world or their country they come from, and give them a safe space to explore.
If we have time, I'd love to share one of my favorite AFS stories. A transformative experience.

Kate M.
Absolutely, yeah.

Sarah R.
I shared this with someone during a job interview lately and brought that person to tears. And that was a little unusual. I don't like to make people cry when I'm interviewing them for a job. I'm an AFS staff person now, too, and I have worked a lot with the state of Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, there's a synagogue that very regularly has an AFS event that they invite all the AFS students to in the Milwaukee area. And I happened to be there during the event at the synagogue and I was traveling there with a volunteer and we had some exchange students with us, including young Muslim man who was very upset about needing to go to the synagogue because where he was from, he came from a family where they did not trust Jewish people. And he didn't think his parents would approve of him going to the synagogue where there would be Jewish people and learning about Judaism and that he was going to be in so much trouble. This just wasn't okay. Like, he really felt that Jews were bad.
And the volunteer and I were like, it's going to be okay, we're all just going to be there to learn. You know, nobody's going to ask you to change your religion or things like that. We will help make sure you're safe and this is part of the program you signed up for. And we're gonna go.
Well, the rabbi of the synagogue was very open to people asking all sorts of questions and learning more about Judaism. He was very welcoming. And so we had this program and the rabbi took lots and lots of questions. And this particular student just had a ton of questions. And so after it ended, the rabbi invited people who had more questions to come up and the student did as well. And through the course of this experience, came to realize how much he as a Muslim had in common with Jews, and the whole ride home was very different. Like, I had no idea that being kosher is a lot like being halal. And we have all this shared history, and we have a lot of discrimination against both of us. And just all of these things that he realized in the volunteer and I are just in tears on the drive home saying, This is why we have AFS. In his home country, he never would have had an opportunity to truly sit down with someone who was Jewish, and to realize what they have in common. And that maybe, maybe not everything about a certain group of people is horrible, right? Maybe in some ways, there's things that are okay to or things that are just like us. And that student had that moment, on his exchange, you know, that's really why we do what we do. It's pretty powerful. Wow, I hope he was able to bring that home to his family. Not all Jews are bad. For you know, whatever he needed to say to his parents to help them realize how much he had learned during his exchange here.

Kate M.     
That's incredible. Wow. Yes. And absolutely an experience he wouldn't have had otherwise. Because even if he came back to the United States to study for college, or something, like you guys dragged him in there. Like he didn't want to go.

Sarah R.
A little bit against his will, perhaps, yeah.

Kate M.
So he wouldn't have done it on his own. Even if he did come back to the States. So wow,

Sarah R.     
He wouldn't even have the opportunity, right, you know, to meet with someone like that. So, huge shout out to our volunteers, you work so hard to arrange those kinds of opportunities for our students to really make those transformations happen is incredible. So grateful, we are making the world a better place here.

Kate M.
Absolutely, absolutely. Is there anything else that you would like to share, Sarah?

Sarah R.     
No, I mean, I am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I've had with AFS. You know, from the time I was in elementary school, and you know, my husband and I are hoping to host an exchange student again, someday. We need fewer car seats in our vehicle to be able to transport an exchange student around. But someday, you know, we would love to bring a little bit more diversity to our community, there's countries and cultures, we'd love to know more about by having someone in our family. And that's pretty cool.

Kate M.
Thank you so much, Sarah, for taking the time to chat with me about your history with AFS and your experiences abroad and your experience with intercultural exchange, bringing intercultural exchange to Minnesota into the area through your work with AFS. I think that this has been a great conversation and, you know, I already knew you pretty well, but now I know you even better.

Sarah R.     
Well, thank you, Kate, for the opportunity. I love being able to talk about my experiences with AFS and in Moldova and overseas because it brings me a lot of joy and I hope that we can reach out to others who might find joy in the experience of intercultural learning with AFS.

Kate M.
Thank you!

Kate M.
That was Sarah Radermacher, of Little Falls, Minnesota.

[Music]

Kate M.
I am talking to…

Tommaso C.     
So my name is Tommaso Casavecchi. I'm from Florence, Italy. And I spent one year in Houston, Texas in 2018-2019 with AFS and right now, I'm back in the U.S.. I'm in New York. Currently, I just finished another exchange, this time at NYU Stern School of Business in New York. And now I'm interning at AFS in their marketing department.

Kate M.
In addition to all of that, Tommaso also volunteered with AFS Italy. We’ll hear all about these different parts of his story throughout the episode.
Let’s start at the beginning.

Tommaso C.    
I was very fascinated with American culture. Since I was very young. I always looked, I always watched movies in English, American movies, especially and listened to American music. So it was kind of funny because all my Italian friends were just watching Italian movies and listening to Italian music while I was kind of different, because I was very fascinated with the U.S. and its culture. I loved New York. And like California I used to read books about nature and all the national parks. So I was very, very fascinated with the U.S.

Kate M.    
Nice. So you came to the United States in 2018? What was the general opinion of the United States and Italy at the time?

Tommaso C.    
Okay, so the opinion that Italians had about the United States and Americans was kind of mixed, because especially in Florence, my hometown, people are exposed to Americans in the form of Americans, Americans in the form of American tourists, usually large groups of people walking around very disoriented, taking pictures of everything. So people, at least in Florence, didn't have a super nice opinion about Americans. And also considering the political situation and everything.
People in Europe and maybe in Italy, especially, didn't agree with the political views of Americans, or at least, that was the general opinion. And so people that didn't have a super high opinion of Americans, they consider them a little culturally ignorant because they didn't know much about Italy or Europe. But I think that's not true at 100%. And that's a very generalized opinion. And as all generalized opinions, it's not true. So my opinion is much different.

Kate M.     
And I have been to Florence and I was surprised how many Americans I saw in Florence.

Tommaso C.     
It's the most Americanized city in Italy, like all the American tourists are concentrated there. It's very funny.

Kate M.    
Yes, it is a beautiful city though. I can understand that people go. It's a beautiful city. Yes, we have kind of taken over a little.

Tommaso C.     
And so there are a lot of tourist attractions. And in the last few years, it became a tourist trap. So if you work downtown during the summer, you can't even walk.

Kate M.
So in 2018, Tomasso leaves Florence for Houston, Texas, to live with a host family that was very different from his own.

Tommaso C.     
First of all, I would like to say that my host family was Jewish, and I had a Catholic background. And so it was extremely interesting for me to experience their traditions and all of their festivities and events. So that was very culturally significant for me. And  I had two amazing house parents. They were very caring and extremely generous. They showed me around the U.S. a lot. And I had four other siblings, two older host brothers, one of them who worked in New York and had just come back when I got there. And the other older brother, he was at UT in college, one other host sister also to UT and one host sister of my age. So we're hosts siblings and also six dogs. So it was a very big and fun family.

Kate M.     
Wow, wow. What is your family like back home?

Tommaso C.     
Well, I'm an only child. So my family back home is very much smaller compared to my American family. And so for me, it was extremely nice to have siblings because I didn't have some expectations. So that was very fun for me.

Kate M.     
Okay, do you have any pets back home?

Tommaso C.     
No, actually, I don't even have pets. So like going from no pets, no siblings to six dogs and siblings. That was also a big change. I always asked my parents for a dog or a cat but never wanted to because in Italy, we all live in apartments. So it's much harder to have pets in Italy. So when I got to Houston, and I had six dogs, for me, it was like heaven. I was like, wow, six dogs. That was like my childhood dream.

Kate M.     
Let's see, what sorts of activities would you do with your host family?

Tommaso C.     
So we went on the, during the weekends, we went to the lake on the boat, or we went to like, they have a family ranch. So we went to the ranch a couple of times, or we went fishing, or we would just go, like, eating out with the rest of the family.

Kate M.
Tommaso shared with me that he wasn’t able to find great Italian food in Houston during his time there. His friends even made him a tshirt with an American flag saying “U.S., home of bad Italian food,” because he was often unimpressed with the Italian food in the area.
Anyway, in addition to exploring the Houston area with his host family, he also did travel a lot outside of Texas during his time, including to New York City, Charleston, Miami, and Mexico.

Kate M.     
Wow. Okay. Yeah, you saw a whole lot. Do you? I mean, you saw many different parts of the United States. Is there anything that really stood out to you about the different cities that you saw?

Tommaso C.     
Yeah, it's incredible how each different city has its own identity. So it's like completely different worlds like New York and Houston. Like now that I live in New York, I'm like, Is this even the United States? Like, it's really two completely different worlds, worlds? And so it was very nice for me to experience different parts of the U.S. We can vary. It really is.

Kate M.     
And I'm just thinking about, like, I live in New York City normally. And when I have gone to Miami, I'm like, Is this really the same country? Because I'm from New York City, as you can tell now? Yes. Yeah, exactly. Do you I mean, Italy is obviously smaller than the United States. But Italy itself is a very diverse country. When you see Milan and when you see Sicily.

Tommaso C.     
Yeah, it's like true clashing words. It's like living in different countries. And actually, in Italy, I think that the differences are even stronger among the different regions, because each region has its own cuisine. It has its own traditions. And so even if you go from Florence to Milan, or from Rome to Naples, it's almost as if you feel literally even in different worlds, they also, we all speak different dialects. So sometimes, I don't understand what is in Sicily or in southern Italy, because they have very different dialects from what we have in Florence, or in northern Italy. And so it's very interesting to see how varied in how many cultures with independent cultures there actually are.

Kate M.
So Italy, we think of it as like a long boot, right? It’s about the size of Arizona, but all stretched out. As Tommaso says, there is so much linguistic diversity throughout the country. Yes, most business and schooling is conducted in standard Italian, but the dialects spoken at home and in the communities vary greatly from region to region. Thanks to its diverse landscapes and historical divisions, different regions developed their own distinct dialects of Italian. There are the Apennine (app-en-iyne) Mountains acting as natural barriers, that’s one factor. Also, the coastal areas, with their rich history of trade and invasions, bringing in external influences and adding to the linguistic mix. What is known as standard Italian is closest to the dialect spoken in Florence.

Tommaso C.
Yeah. And actually, yeah, in Florence, we're very proud that our Italian, let's say, is the perfect Italian because there they wrote the Holy Comedy. And so we are very proud of saying, Oh, we speak perfect Italian. And so it's just funny how people from different parts really speak different dialects and different versions of Italian. That is very interesting.

Kate M.
Okay, back to your year. Were you involved in any extracurriculars through school?

Tommaso C.     
Yes, it was actually very involved in all the extracurriculars, in my host school, because I went to a very nice, medium-small sized school. And so every weekend, they had activities. And since there were only 150 people in my grade, we all knew each other. And so we would all go to the activities that were organized by the school during the weekends. And I also played sports, I played volleyball, and I was part of the swimming team. I was part of the Star Wars cloud and the World Heritage club. And so yeah, I got to be part of a lot of groups and take part in a lot of extracurricular activities in high school, and it was a lot of fun. I have the best memories with my high school activities.

Kate M.     
Nice. Had you played volleyball or swam before?

Tommaso C.     
I never played volleyball before. And so playing I wasn't the best one. But since I'm very tall, they put me in the varsity team. So that was funny. And then yeah, I used to swim. And so joining the swimming team, for me, it was like swimming back in Italy. So that was also very fun.

Kate M.     
That's good. And you know, swimming is swimming. You know?

Tommaso C.     
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's not that hard.

Kate M.    
Nice. Were there others you got to know? Let's see? What was it like getting to know other AFS students from different countries?

Tommaso C.     
It was the best experience I've ever had. Because there was actually a very big group of exchange students and there were 35 of us. And we were literally from all over the world. So remember, like three times per span used to from Indonesia, Japan, South America over from southern America. And so it was extremely interesting to get to know all of these people from all over the world and we created a very big and very close group. And so I just remember having a lot of fun with them and just exploring Houston. We also had an exchange within the exchange in San Antonio, as we were hosted by a host family in San Antonio for a couple of days and It was just extremely enriching to learn from all the people with different backgrounds that were hosted in Houston. So that I still have, I'm still in touch with most of my friends for my exchange from all over the world. And I got to see them, some got to see some of them around either Florence, or now in New York, so it was very nice to reconnect with them.

Kate M.     
Great. Let's see. So, before you came to the United States, you know, you had some opinions about what it would be like, but what did you learn about American culture and American people during your year? Good, could be good things or bad things. But what are some things that you learned about American people?

Tommaso C.     
Well, I learned that American people were not as I thought they were going to be, because I only knew American tourists walking around Florence. So I was like, Oh, my God, are they all gonna be like these, like taking pictures of everything, like not knowing where they're going, but actually not? Americans? I am, I really changed my opinions. There are people from all different backgrounds in the U.S.. And that was extremely, like, enriching and interesting to me, because I got to experience so many different cultures. I think the U.S. is one of the only places in the world where we're direct people, where there really are where there really are people from all over the world. And so for me, it was amazing to see how actually, American people are so varied, and they have all different backgrounds. And it's always interesting to learn where they come from, or what their life was like in their home country. And so that was very interesting to me.

Kate M.    
I believe that Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the United States, along with, you know, New York, of course, and some other cities, but Houston has such a mix of people from all over the world already before the AFSers, even.

Tommaso C.     
Right now, in fact, yeah, also, at my school, there were students from all different backgrounds, like some students had parents from India, others from Mexico, others from France, like one of my best friend's mom was from France, and she spoke Italian. So it was really nice to see people like literally from all over the world, and how they're all connected to, like, either the school or the city of Houston. And so it's really amazing how diverse Houston also was. So it was very interesting to learn from the people from their different backgrounds.

Kate M.
So actually, Tommaso isn’t the first AFSer I’ve interviewed who was placed in Houston. Last season- episode 6- I spoke with Fen Namwat from Thailand about his time there in 2017-2018. I recommend you check it out as well- he had similar things to say about the diversity of the city, and the great connections he made with other AFSers!
Well, I then asked Tommaso about the skills he gained during his year in the States.

Tommaso C.     
Well, during my exchange year, I think I became a much more confident person. I was very shy before leaving. Well, being exposed to so many people and getting to know so many people, I became much more confident. And I think I developed very good communication skills. I remember having a speech at the end of the year in front of the whole school.
Also adaptiveness. I think now that I can adapt to any kind of situation after having lived one year in Houston, and also in critical thinking, like I remember being in some kind of difficult situations. And so I was I mean, I still had my host family, but I was on my own. So I had to think, really, on my own. And I think yeah, I really improved in this set of skills that I think will be useful also in my future life, my working life. And so I'm very glad that I got to do an experience abroad because it really helped me develop some very important skills.

Kate M.     
That's great. Let's see. So you left Houston in June 2019. What have you been up to since your AFS program?

Tommaso C.     
Well, I've been up to a lot of things actually, I went back home to Florence. I finished high school, and I became an AFS volunteer. We would welcome exchange students. So show them around, we have a lot to show in Florence. And so we organize museum visits, or this works in the countryside. And also, we do a lot of camps for exchange, like exchange exchange students that are about to depart from Florence. And so we do a lot of activities, like monthly meetings. And also we have like, a three or four days camp where we do a lot of fun activities. And we just teach them some AFS values or some lessons through games or educational activities. And then coming back from the, to the students, for the students coming back from their exchange. We also organize another camp where they all get to talk about their experience, and just exchange their memories with the other exchange students. So we do a lot of different activities.

Kate M.     
That sounds like that would be a lot of fun.

Tommaso C.     
Yeah, probably like, I think the most fun weekend I've ever had in my life was preparing to go abroad with the other exchange students. So we departed literally to the world. We came back as global citizens.

Kate M.
So after finishing high school Tommaso moved to Milan to study economics and management at Bocconi University. He just finished his undergraduate program, and this past semester, he got to participate in another exchange. This time, in New York City at NYU Stern School of Business.
In September, he’ll start his master's degree in International Management, and actually get to take part in another exchange. But in the meantime, he’s staying in New York and interning with AFS-USA’s Marketing Department.

Tommaso C.     
Well, there are a lot of different tasks that we have to do. I'm sending out emails to gather materials, like pictures from current exchange students. I'm writing blogs on the AFS-USA website. I'm a part of the podcast right now. And I also have other smaller tasks, like uploading pictures on some platforms, or just sending out emails, I mean, many different tasks.

Kate M.     
So you spent a year in Houston, you lived with a host family? So you were on your own? You weren't with your parents, but you still were with a family kind of within the little safety net of AFS? What was it like going to an American university in New York City?

Tommaso C.     
Well, that was very, very challenging, because I thought it was going to be easy, because I was like, Well, I've already been through an exchange. And I can do it again, without any problem. And I mean, I was very prepared for this exchange, because my previous experience really prepared me for this other exchange. But I saw that being alone in New York City was really a challenge, especially at the beginning getting used to moving around with the subway or just getting used to living in New York. And so that was actually very challenging. But I think that my previous exchange really prepared me for this other exchange. And I also saw the difference between me and my other Italian friends doing an exchange in New York, they had never left Italy, so they had been living their whole life in Italy. And so coming here for them was really a shock. I remember the first few weeks they didn't even get outside of the house because they were like, kind of scared to go around, or they were very disoriented. And so I think my exchange in Houston was like preparation for what was to come for this exchange.

Kate M.    
How did your AFS program have an impact on your professional life?

Tommaso C.     
Well, my AFS program had a huge impact on my professional life, because I feel that it motivated me to always look for international experiences. And oh, also really motivated me to attain my goals. I really wanted to come to spend another to get to do another exchange at NYU. And so I really started to work hard to get me to secure my spot at NYU. And I think that had it not been for my exchange with AFS, I probably wouldn't be here right now. Because it was really a source of motivation for me to go back abroad. And it's really my exchange that really made me wait. My change really, like my AFS experience, made me a different person in the sense that now I'm very much more international, I have a very international mindset. And so I'm always looking for intercultural experiences or experiences abroad, meeting people from all over the world. And so it really impacted my career in the sense that also in the future, I would like to work in a very diverse environment.

So I think that AFS really had a huge, huge impact on my career. And I can see that also all my exchange year friends back in Italy. They’re all studying in English or they’re studying abroad, they would like to work abroad. And so the best effect is real. They really create global citizens because all of us, all of the exchange students, really want to work abroad, or work in a very diverse and inclusive environment, when they go back home.

Kate M.     
Thank you. Um, let's see. What advice do you have for students who are considering doing an AFS program?

Tommaso C.   
Well, but my advice for the students that would like to do an experience abroad with AFS is to take part in exchange because it's a life changing experience. And not only you will be able to live probably the best year of your life, an incredible year where you will get to meet people from all over the world. Live with amazing homes, families get to travel, learn a new language, but you also get to develop some soft skills like communication, critical thinking and assertiveness that will come useful in your future, either daily life, academic life, or also in your working career. And so your AFS exchange will impact you in all sorts of ways during your future light. And so something I always like to say back home as a volunteer is that your journey with AFS starts, but it never ends, because it will be with you for the rest of your life.

Kate M.    
Why is intercultural exchange important?

Tommaso C.     
Intercultural exchanges are important, because what I like to say and also what volunteers told us is that each exchange student is an ambassador for his or her own country. And so, when you go abroad and come back home, you're really keeping this network of relations with people from all over the world. And I think that's extremely important. As also one of AFS core values is like to maintain peace, avoid conflicts and setting that each exchange student I mean, an ambassador, a sort of an official diplomat, is really attaining this goal of peace keeping connections with people from all over the world from different countries. And so intercultural exchanges are really enriching experiences that will make our world, the world a better place. I think.

Kate M.     
I agree. And I think you, you are a great example of that.

Tommaso C.    
Thank you so much. Thank you.

Kate M.    
Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Tommaso C.     
Well, I would just like to share that after four years, I got to visit with my host family. So since I came back to New York, I went to visit them in Houston last month, we went on vacation together during spring break, and they're coming to visit me in New York. And so it was extremely nice to see them again. And also to reconnect with all of my friends and teachers for my exchange. So is this to say that feeling AFS is a journey that never ends and that will accompany you for the rest of your life?

Kate M.    
That's great. Well, thank you so much Tommaso for taking the time to chat with me about your experience in Houston and what you've been up to since you're really a great ambassador for AFS.

Tommaso C.     
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Kate M.
That was Tommaso Casavecchi of Florence, Italy.

[Music]

Kate M.
So in this episode, we heard from Sarah and Tommaso, who shared their incredible experiences with AFS and their time abroad. Through their stories, we've witnessed the transformative power of intercultural exchange.

And here's the thing: AFS is not just a one-time experience, but a lifelong journey. It starts with an exchange, but it never ends. Sarah's ongoing involvement with AFS and Tommaso's commitment to being a global citizen exemplify this.

Thank you to Sarah and Tommaso, for sharing their journeys with me. And thank you for reminding us that the AFS journey is one that stays with us, shaping who we are and how we engage with the world.

[Music]

Kate M.
Well, thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange! I’m Kate Mulvihill. Let us know what you thought of this episode by sending a message to podcast@afsusa.org. You can also rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe there as well so you don’t miss any episodes in this 3rd season.

This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball and Nina Gaulin.