Junior Tommaso Mostarda was interested in becoming an exchange student because he wanted to learn more about the culture of the United States. Someday, he would like to move to the U.S. He is originally from one of the largest cities in the world, Rome, Italy. He lives only three miles away from Vatican City, which is home to the Pope. Being an exchange student would give him the experience of living here.

The only thing that Mostarda knew about Nebraska before he got here was that it was a state in America. He was with friends when he got the email that he would be coming to North Platte, NE. “My first thought was that this little town is nothing. This is awful. Now that I’m here, it’s not that bad,” he said.

One of the things in America that he finds strange is Wal-Mart. “We have big stores like that, but they’re for tractor supplies or sports. Finding a supermarket that big is kind of confusing,” he said.
He was also interested in the American school system. He believes that the teachers here are better than back home. “They’re here because they want to teach; they like to teach,” he said. Back home, he says that the teachers are stricter. “In Italy, you’d go to the principal’s office for late homework,” he said. According to him, they have a lot of homework, and it eventually adds up.

One of Mostarda’s biggest fears about being an exchange student was that he wouldn’t get along with his host family and that they wouldn’t be able to interact with each other. He remembers seeing his host family at the airport and thinking, “What am I gonna say now?” Although things were pretty awkward for Mostarda at first, everything is running smoothly now. “We’re accustomed to each other,” he said.

Along with being anxious about his host family, Mostarda was also nervous about the language. “I was worried about not being able to speak English properly, and I was also afraid I wouldn’t understand other people,” he said. Mostarda enjoys reading and does it often. It helps him to learn the English language. He enjoys historical fiction and military books, like American Sniper.

In Italy, Mostarda said that they eat a lot of pizza and use more olive oil than we do. However, he said that Americans eat more pizza than the Italians do. Since his arrival, he’s tried pizza from Pizza Hut and Domino’s. He thinks that Domino’s is better. However, it doesn’t compare to home. “We have a lot of pizza restaurants in Italy. Some are really, really good, but some think that just because they are Italian, they know how to cook pizza. They can’t,” he said.

Before he goes back to Italy, he has a few things that he wanted to do, including going to a football game at Memorial Stadium and hunting. He has been to two games at the stadium now and has also been hunting. “Now that I’ve been hunting, I want to kill a deer,” he said. His biggest goal, however, is to succeed throughout the entire year. “That’s a big goal,” he said.

Questions:

Do you like spaghetti?
You guys overcook it. The noodles should be al dente. Your noodles are too soft. I like Italian spaghetti, yes.

Do you talk a lot with your hands?
Yes, more than the average person anyways.

Do you like Paul Pogba?
No, he plays on a team that isn’t mine. My favorite team is the team of my city, Roma.