Exchange student from Italy recalls time in Nelson County

For almost a year, Francesca Pavone has called Nelson County home.

The 17-year-old exchange student from a city in southern Italy traded in her bus pass for soccer cleats last August for a chance to experience American culture.

Now, her days in the United States as a Nelson County High School junior are down to the double digits and going fast.

“When I first arrive, it was pretty much a real shock,” Pavone said. “I saw like cows and green and at first, I was like ‘Oh my God.’”

“I can’t believe it’s already finished,” she said. “It’s like it just started right now. It’s been a great experience.”

Pavone came to NCHS as an exchange student through the American Field Services program, which has placed students worldwide. She said her friends in school had been in similar programs and she was always interested in traveling.

“I always have the dream to be a citizen of the world and not just a citizen of my town or a citizen of my country,” she said. “So like, for me, my town, it was too little. I felt like there is more that I have to know and I felt ready for it.”

Pavone said her family wasn’t too accepting right away of her dream to see the world, however.

“My mom was a little concerned because she was like, ‘You’re still a sophomore,’ and so then my dad helped me a lot,” she said. “My mom didn’t want it at all. I made all the payments and stuff with my dad’s money because my mom didn’t want to.”

For her time in Nelson, she has been living with the Valentino family in Lovingston. She joined the varsity soccer team, challenged herself with academic courses throughout the school year and has traveled throughout the U.S.

Pavone visited Niagara Falls, then New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., with her host family.

She also said that attending the prom, a tradition that isn’t observed in Italian culture as it is in America, was one of her favorite times here.

Other cultural differences, like meal times, were also surprising to Pavone when she first arrived.

“It Italy, we have a small breakfast, big lunch and small dinner, but always at the same times,” she said. “Here, it depends from family to family, you don’t know when dinner is.”

“There’s families that have dinner at 5 and families that have dinner at 8. Pretty much in Italy you have dinner from like 8 to 9:30 or 10, it’s dinner, and you have dinner between that time. It was pretty weird but now it’s OK.”

Her favorite food in the U.S.?

“Trashy food. Hamburgers.”

At home, Pavone said her favorite thing to eat is anything that her mom cooks.

Her favorite thing about Nelson County has been the wide, open spaces and the isolated atmosphere. Pavone, who grew up in a city where a bus passed her house every 10 minutes, said that has also been her least favorite thing.

The language barrier is something Pavone said she is still working to overcome.

“It was a real problem when I first got here because it was just three days and then I started school,” she said. “I couldn’t understand like 30 percent of what people were saying. Now it’s like 10 percent that I can’t understand.”

Pavone plans to continue traveling during her time in the U.S., and when she gets back to Italy, she’ll continue her education and continue traveling the world. She said that she wants to go into biomedical engineering but doesn’t know where she’ll go to college, if it will be in Italy or somewhere like the Netherlands or England.

Her time in Nelson County has helped Pavone change the way she thinks and has helped her grow up, she said.

“I was in a group of friends that everything important was the nice shirts, the most expensive purse,” she said. “So like, it changes me in this way. I just can’t believe that I was judging people in that way.

“I guess I’m so lucky because at 16 years old, I’ve been able to go into another country on the other side of the world, knowing nobody and having a great time.”