Valeria Purzer took a big step in her young life when she decided to come to Malibu High School (MHS) as an international student from Italy for one school year in order to practice her English. She arrived in Malibu last August, and is living with her host family Hans and Diane Laetz. She had never been to the U.S. before.
Valeria’s brother Gianlucca had been here four years ago as an international student from Italy and blazed a trail. He stayed with the Hotchkiss family in Malibu West, and Valeria met them all.
She wants to practice English, even though she already speaks fluent Italian and German, because, “It’s the work language, and maybe I’ll want to work internationally,” she said in an interview.
Valeria describes herself as “adventurous,” and since coming to MHS already tried one sport she never played before—girls water polo. As a senior, she was automatically put on the varsity team.
“I wanted to do a winter sport, and it was fun,” she said. “Although I’d been swimming for 12 years, it was my first time to play a team sport and throw a ball.”
Unfortunately, the Woolsey Fire interrupted a lot of the water polo practices and games, and Valeria didn’t quite get the full experience. However, it’s now finished for the year, and she’s currently on the swim team competing in freestyle events.
There’s a real contrast between American education as experienced at MHS, and the educational system of Italy, where she attended a German language school in her hometown of Brixen, 28 miles from the Austrian border. For one thing, she said they have five years of high school—her senior year here at MHS is considered to be her fourth year of high school, and she’ll still have one more year of school to go before she graduates, once she returns to Italy.
At MHS, Valeria is taking five subjects, which each have daily classes: English, psychology, art, choir and government/economy. Admittedly, she didn’t choose the most difficult classes, because she’s trying to learn English. But in contrast, in Italy, she had 14 subjects, including German, Italian, English, Latin, human science, normal science, physics, math, philosophy, music, choir, art history, history, piano and singing.
Not all subjects in Italy have a class every day, so there’s more variety in daily school schedules, Valeria said. Twice a week, school goes until 4 p.m., and those are the only days students eat lunch at a student restaurant. The other three days, school lets out at 1 p.m., allowing time for study or sports clubs—sports aren’t offered by the school the way they are in the U.S.
Valeria’s singing teacher in Italy was a former opera singer, and she discovered a talent for singing opera that she may pursue in the future at university.
Another contrast in countries is that “there’s more discipline in the classroom” in Italy, Valeria said. “We’re not allowed to use our phones at school in Italy, and at MHS, it’s super strange to me that some students listen to music while the teacher is talking.”
Yet another contrast is that in Italy, the students stay in the same classroom all day, while it’s the teachers that change classrooms. Here, it’s the students that have to change classrooms.
Valeria admits it hasn’t been terribly easy making friends at MHS. She said by the time students are seniors, they already have well-established friend groups, and it’s hard to get into one. However, she’s made some friends and participated in a few social activities, including homecoming, sleepovers, hiking and going to the beach.
In Italy, she was able to get around her hometown with public transportation, walking and biking. Here, it’s more difficult to get around because the primary mode of transportation is by car, and she doesn’t drive. “In Malibu, there’s no real walking around the city,” she observed.
As far as cuisine, she’s tried Mexican and Asian here for the first time, and loves burritos. “And I just started to eat broccoli,” she laughed. In general, she said food here is heavier with more meat than what she was used to. Americans also have more appliances, like dryers, microwaves and air conditioners.
Valeria’s host dad, Hans, joked that “she’s the first exchange student we’ve had that didn’t like guacamole.”
The Laetzs both had the opportunity to live abroad as teenagers, making them big fans of international student programs.
“My family lived in Vienna when I was 14, and it opened my eyes to a whole big world beyond the deserts of Arizona,” Hans said. “Diane was an exchange student in Munich, and we still see her friends from there.”
The couple has hosted foreign exchange students at their home for more than 20 years from all over the world, including China, Sweden and Mongolia.
