Harwood frequently hosts exchange students from around the world to experience American culture for up to 10 months. It provides a rural, mountainous opportunity for students like Elena Busnelli, who hail from populous cities. Busnelli is from Milan, the second-largest city in Italy. Home to several high-end fashion brands, Milan is warmer than Vermont, with temperatures rarely dipping below freezing.
Busnelli had never been to the United States before her flight here in early August. “I wanted to experience the feeling of an American high school,” she said. “I wanted to feel like an American, and I wanted to be in the U.S. Not everyone can do that.” She is traveling through CIEE, a popular exchange program. She had the ability to choose where she stayed, but she chose not to: “I knew that wherever I went would be the right place for me.”
She loves Vermont, and she especially loves the scenery. She joked, “It’s like I’m discovering the mountains!”
The CIEE application process is lengthy. Busnelli had her first meeting with the agency in September 2024 and completed her application (containing information about herself, her family, and her life) over the winter. The application contained three pieces of writing: one detailing why she wanted to participate in the exchange program, one letter to her host family, and one letter from her parents to her host family. Her placement in Vermont was confirmed in April. “At first, I didn’t know about this state,” she said. “I was hoping for a warm place, but I’m in love here. Vermont is cold, but it’s nothing that I can’t survive.”
Exchange students usually arrive in the United States about a week before school starts, providing them with enough time to get to know their host families and to adjust to the time difference. Busnelli, however, landed three weeks prior to the start of school. “I did literally nothing,” she said. “I started to become familiar with English, and I got to know my host mom, but 20 days was too much.” She had to wait for the other exchange student that she lives with to arrive, and the difference between Milan –where there’s “always something to do” – and Vermont was startling. She also leaves early; Harwood’s first semester ends around the middle of January, but Busnelli’s flight back to Milan is scheduled shortly after Christmas. Her exchange only lasts one semester, so it must be coordinated with the start of the Italian semester, which starts on January 7. “I might have trouble sending my grades back home, which is hard,” said Busnelli, “but I also can’t miss a month of school.”
Busnelli has quickly become busy in Vermont. Her JV volleyball season just finished, and she was thrilled to try something new: “I’d never played before, only in gym class. I like volleyball a lot, but the practices every day are too much.” She might play hockey over the winter. “If I don’t play hockey here, I will never have another chance. I want to try new things here.”
Like many Vermonters, Busnelli has been skiing since she was a toddler. She has skied in Italy and Switzerland, and always made time for it back home. “I can’t wait to ski here!” she said. “I want to try these mountains, even though I think everyone’s going to be really good.”
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