Elisa Muro is from Milan, Italy. Her first language is Italian, but she also speaks Romanian, as her mom is from Romania, and she learns English, Spanish, and French at school. Elisa attends a language school in Italy. She explains, “All Italian schools are specialized schools: they focus whether on Math or Scientific subjects, Languages or Classical subjects, Arts or Music etc., so you don’t get to make your own schedule, you can just choose your school and all the students will have the same schedule.” Italian schools are very different from American schools. Elisa adds, “In some cities, students go to school from Monday to Friday, in others, from Monday to Saturday. Also, between periods, students don’t switch classes, teachers do: so in 9th grade you get put in a class, and that will be your class for the rest of high school. That means same classmates for five years, because yes, high school in Italy lasts 5 years (9th to 13th grade). ” She also mentions that there are no extracurriculars in schools in Italy. A few schools have bands and drama clubs, but most students join clubs and teams outside of school. Although she did not personally choose to come to Galway (the exchange program matches students to a host family, meaning they could end up anywhere in the U.S.), she says she is very glad she ended up staying here. Welcome to Eagle Nation, Elisa!

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