Italian student learns the American way at SFHS

“Just because things are different, doesn’t make them bad,” said Fabio De Maio, AFS student. “It’s a learning thing.”

That phrase summarizes the thoughts and ideas of De Maio, age 17, who is a senior at Sheboygan Falls High School and is studying here through the AFS program. He is staying with host family Paul and Jayne D’Alberto; and his home is the city of Vico Equense, which is located in the Province of Naples in Italy.

“My city is near the sea,” De Maio said. “It’s halfway between the mountains and the sea. It is very pretty. There is rain in the winter and the summer is good and warm.”

De Maio’s mom is Carmela, and she is the principal at an elementary school. His dad, Nello (Agnello), is a retired math teacher; his brother, Paolo, age 28, is a biologist and his sister, Cinzia, age 32, is a neonatal doctor.

“I got the idea at first when I was at school and the AFS came to talk with us,” De Maio said. “I went home and talked to my dad and brothers; we thought about it, and decided about one week before sending the papers in at the last minute.

“My brother helped in the decision,” De Maio continued. “He helped me to understand the importance of this experience. To change your life and learn the English, learn a new culture and life in another country.

I’m the first to come to America out of my entire family.

“My mom thought it was a good idea,” De Maio said. “She worried about me, not seeing me for a long time; and I worried a little about the situation, being here for a long time without my parents, until she met my host family over the Internet with Skype.

“We could see each other, and that helped,” De Maio pointed out. “The families liked each other – a lot, and I had to translate between the two families. I kept saying, ‘Not so fast! Give me time to translate.’

“My host dad has been to Italy,” De Maio said. “Their family is from Italy; they came here a long time ago.

“When my host dad went to Italy, for work, he met my brother and sister,” De Maio added.

“My host family has three children,” De Maio said. “There is A.J., who is in college. He is really nice.

He tried to get me into football. So I tried it and I kept thinking, ‘What’s going on! All the time.’

“Now I sort of understand the game. I practiced with the team and had a good time. I tried football, but I like watching it.

“I am a fan of the soccer team of Naples, called S.S.C. Napoli, and sometimes I went to the stadium, too, to see the match,” De Maio said. “It is a lot of fun, but I prefer just a little bit here though, because when here I went to the match of the Packers (now I am a Packer fan too!) against the Ravens, we stayed just a little time standing up, while in Naples usually you have to stay almost all the game standing up!

“Anyway, I like a lot, to stay with my friends, and watch soccer matches together,” De Maio continued, “especially with my best friends, Gennaro and Lino. I miss them very much, of course, like I miss my family and my other friends, but here I have other friends and another family! Sometimes here it happens to have moments when you feel homesick, but at the end I realized that soon I will be back to them, so the best thing to do is enjoy my time here.

“I watched wrestling,” De Maio noted. “I liked to watch the match and do the yelling, but not actually wrestle. I’ve made a lot of friends.

“My other host brother is Kyle,” De Maio said. “He is a sophomore in high school, and I can share things together with him. We have no classes together, but maybe second semester.

“Abby is very young. She is in the seventh grade and it’s interesting to be watching cartoons. She can teach me about the words the same way Kyle does.

“I think my English is better since I’m here,” De Maio indicated. “Before, in Italy, you think you can talk pretty good English, then you get here and you’re not talking good English.

“I have gotten better, I think,” De Maio said, “but I know I will get better by the end of the year. “This high school is huge!” De Maio exclaimed. “It’s bigger than at home.

“The locker is interesting,” De Maio said. “In Italy there is no locker. It’s different.

“In Italy the class is always with the same people, and the teacher changes classes,” De Maio explained. “You get a lot stronger relation. Here, you are always running with the books getting to different classes.

It’s a lot different, but I’m getting used to it.

“In Italy you are more like a group,” De Maio said. “Here, you are more like independent. You get to know more people.

“Sheboygan Falls is smaller, but I like it here,” De Maio commented. “But I’m not used to the cold. I like the beaches in Italy.

“In Italy we usually think the United States is big cities, like New York and Chicago,” De Maio said. “We don’t think there’s a lot of smaller places, like here. It’s important to learn about this. We always only think of traffic, skyscrapers – but it’s not all traffic and skyscrapers.

“Here you go hunting!” De Maio exclaimed. “Wow! I didn’t know that the hunting season was so big.

“My father knew things about Wisconsin,” De Maio said. “He even knew about Milwaukee, so I looked on the Internet to learn about Wisconsin before I came here and I learned about Wisconsin being America’s Dairyland, like the cheese.

“When I get home, the first thing I will tell the people is that I’ve done one of the best things in my life to come here,” De Maio stated, “and that it’s true about America, that there is many things here.

“Sometimes we think there’s just one thing that represents America,” De Maio said, “and we can’t think that it’s only cows and cornfields – that there is a lot more to America.

“It’s not only big cities; there are smaller areas. “This is a good experience,” De Maio said. “I like everyone. We are all friends.”