In the Class of - Kewanee Public Library District

Their Unique Experiences
I arrived in Kewanee on the 21st erf
August and encountered a completely
new world to explore. Now I am a
new person, ready to understand and
associate with people.
I come from Trieste, a port of more
than 300,000 inhabitants, located in
the right upper corner of Italy, very
close to the Yugoslavian border and
not far from Venice. My father is
employed at the Central Post Office
of Trieste. He used to play soccer
and now he is also a soccer coach.
My mother works too, and this is not
very common in an Italian family.
She is a typist and stenographer for a
syndicate. In Kewanee, I live with
the Allen Livek family. Since the
beginning, they have always treated
me like a son. In Italy, I am the
only child, but here I experienced
having two brothers—Brad, a senior
and Aaron, a sixth grader.
My school in Trieste has more than a
thousand students and is called the
"Guglielmo Oberdan Scientific High
School." We go to high school for
five years, so when I go back I'll
have one more year to complete.
After that I plan to go to the University--possibly
the one in Pisa, to
study Physics and Mathematics, since
I like these subjects very much.
Traveling has always been my passion,
and the only big chance I had to
travel was with the AFS program.
Can you imagine how different Kewanee
is from Trieste? In my country,
life is slower, the language is
completely different, and there are
different rules like—no curfew and
no drinking age, or eighteen yearolds
driving. However, now I can say
that getting adjusted to these big
changes has helped me the most.
Making new friends at W.H.S, and
having fun with the Flying Geese
have been unforgettable experiences.
All the anxieties and joys I have had
in Kewanee will mean a lot to me
for a long, long time.
My Italian Family
My AmerjEati .Family
The most important thing I learned
is that I finally realized that people
are basically the same all over the
world. Obviously, there are differences
in the ways of living, but these
differences are not important. When
you talk about different countries,
don't say life is better here than there
(it is never better or worse) but simply
say that some of the customs are
not the same. This is the key everybody
needs to reach the main AFS
idea and purpose. "Walk together,
talk together, oh ye people of the
world and then and only then shall
we live in peace."
Sincerely,
Your 1970-71 AFS Student
Mauro Mase*
My city--Trieste, Italy