Whiz Kid: Michael Vaghi

Michael Vaghi has travel in his blood.  

Four years ago when he was in 6th grade, his sister Danielle decided to go to Italy for her sophomore year of high school. She found out about the exchange program, AFS (American Field Service), through a friend who had gone through it two years earlier in Germany.

"My family asked at the end of that year if maybe I would like to do the same program when I got to high school and at the time, my response was immediately no," Michael said. "I thought of it as a year away from friends, family, sports, maybe some hobbies and your home in general. "

But Michael changed his mind, and decided his freshman year to actually go ahead and sign up for a one year abroad experience in Italy. Now that he's returned, he said he realized it was much more than just a year away from home.   

Michael said he chose Italy, because his family heritage is Italian, and he wanted to learn more about the language and culture.

"I was also greatly influenced by not only my sister Danielle who went to Italy, but also my Dad who went to France when he was in high school and my other sister Sarah who went to New Zealand for a semester, also during her sophomore year," he said.

Michael was placed with a host family that included two teenaged children and two parents who both worked at his school and lived on an olive tree orchard on the island of Sardinia.

The orchard has nearly 200 olive trees and harvest olives each year to make them into oil. Though the house was in the country side and about 15 minutes from the city, Michael said the far distance was made up for by the beautiful views and year-round fresh harvest from the garden.

His host family also had two horses, chickens, rabbits, cats and a dog.

"Being the youngest of four children in my real family, it was pretty different...but in the end I would consider my host family my second family," Michael said.

School was also another very different aspect of his journey. Michael said his Italian school has several differences compared to American schools, including teachers shifting and changing classrooms throughout the day rather than the students, having a 1-10 grading system and the fact that there are different types of high schools, similar to private high schools in America.

"For me as an exchange student, until I learned the language enough to be able to do some work in school, the teachers were all kind and easy with me," Michael said. "Around December was when I felt comfortable enough with the language, I was treated just as any other student in the class."

Michael said there were many highlights and great experiences throughout the 10 months he was in Italy, but a few favorite things were the beautiful beaches, the food and the culture of Sardinia, which he found to be very different from typical Italian culture.

He said: "Now that I'm home, I'm happy to see my family and friends again, but I definitely will want to return and visit all of the friends and family I made in Italy as well. I am definitely glad that I changed my mind after 6th grade and very lucky to have had the opportunity to do this program with AFS. It was a year that I will never forget for the rest of my life."