Heading home bittersweet for C-Falls exchange student

After months of snow and cold, it’s back to the tropical weather of the Amazon for Maria Vizcay. Leaving will be bittersweet for the 17-year-old foreign exchange student; she said she learned a lot about herself and the culture of America during her stay here.

She’ll especially miss the cooking and company of her host parents Lisa and Brian McKeon.

“I love the food here,” Vizcay said during an interview last week. “Everything here has a sauce. I love everything (Lisa) cooks ... at home we eat of a lot of beef.”

Vizcay hails from Reconquista in Santa Fe, Argentina. Her father is an attorney. The region has warm weather all the time, she said, but when she returns, it will be “winter” of sorts. She said she had seen snow before in her travels, but her stay in Montana involved a lot of skiing and snowboarding — she broke her elbow snowboarding at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

She traveled a lot with the McKeons, including a six-day camping excursion this spring with Lisa, her daughter Eloise, and friends in Utah. Six days in the desert without so much as a shower was just one of many firsts.

Vizcay said she was more into sports at home, but in the U.S. she painted and did things like go dog sledding that she never would have, or could have, done in Argentina.

But there certainly were culture shocks. At home, she was used to going to clubs at night and staying out until the wee hours of the morning. But everyone in Argentina takes a siesta (a nap) from about 1 to 4 p.m., she said.

Not here in the states.

“I was in bed by 9,” she said with a laugh.

But her body still yearned for that afternoon nap. Unfortunately, she had English class right after lunch. It was a tough go for awhile.

With school out and the weather warming up, she said she’d like to stay longer, but back at home, she’ll finish off her senior year of high school starting in a few weeks and graduate in November.

She said more students should try a foreign exchange program.

“I was an open-minded person,” she said. “I feel even more open minded now.”