An Albanian in Italy…

I hate goodbyes.

In September, I experienced the biggest goodbye of my whole entire life. I said goodbye to my friends, my family, my school, my house, California, America, English, and everything else that was once a stable part of my life.

Oddly, this huge goodbye is something that I’ve scheduled my life around for the past year and wanted to do.

So here I am, on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, in the midst of pasta, pizzas, cigarettes, ciaos, cheek-kissing, shot-sized coffee, and mopeds.

Have you figured it out yet? Yes, the island is part of Italy. I am living on Sardegna in an Albany-sized town called Terralba. Terralba is cramped and dirty and still one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

Before I tell you about Sardegna and Italy, I should tell you about how I got here. I’m living in Italy through a program called AFS (Intercultura in Italian). AFS is the second largest volunteer-based organization in the world, just behind the Red Cross. AFS is an acronym for American Field Service and was founded after World War II by two American ambulance drivers who fought in the war. The drivers were shocked at the horrors of war and decided to find a way to promote world peace.

The first AFS exchange student was the daughter of a Nazi general who spent her year abroad in America with a Jewish family.

AFS is an organization that tries to unite the world and create peace one student, one family, and one community at a time. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true.

I left California Tuesday, September 5 on a plane headed for New York. During the flight, I had major second thoughts. I hated leaving my mom, sister, step-dad, and friends at the airport. I won’t lie to you; I cried . . . a lot.

While flying over Arkansas, I decided that as soon as the plane landed I would buy a ticket for the next flight back to California. Nothing is scarier than the unknown, and the plane I was on was headed straight for it. Somehow I persuaded myself to stay calm and stick with it.

In New York, all the American AFS kids heading to Spain, Portugal, and Italy stayed together in a hotel. We went over things like rules and how to cope with culture shock. The most important thing about my stay in that hotel is that I met other people just like me who are going through the same thing. It was a great comfort knowing I am not the only crazy kid willing to put myself through this.

All the exchange students going to Italy then flew to Frankfurt and then to Rome. In Rome, AFS kids from all over the world stayed at one hotel and prepared for their Italian experience. There were kids from Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Indonesia, Brazil, China, Chile, Holland, and many other countries. There were about 300 AFSers in that hotel. We spent two days in Rome and then went our separate ways. The rest of us headed to Sardegna, so I got on yet another flight (that makes four flights in five days) to my real destination.

My host family was waiting at the airport and the moment I met them I knew that we would get along. I have a dad (a farmer), a mom (house wife), a sister (24-years old and a waitress), and another sister (13 years old, like Josie, my real sister).

We drove for forty minutes north from Cagliari and reached Terralba. It was late afternoon and the streets were filled with tiny cars, mopeds, pedestrians, and bicycles. The shops were just closing, and the cafés and bars were just opening up. I could hear Italian words and smell pasta. We drove past the giardini (a main park) and the piaza with the chiesa (a church). Finally, we reached my new home.

Two little Yorkshire terriers and my new room were waiting for me. My host dad built me a loft bed, and my host sisters printed out pictures for me to put up on the wall. That was the moment I realized that I made the right decision.

Sadie Guthrie is an AHS student who is spending her junior year in Italy. She will be filing reports for The Cougar all year.