My Italian Sister – Flo’s Story

Whilst we love to hear positive stories from our hosts, it was great to meet one of the younger members of a host household recently. Flo was a primary school pupil when her parents started hosting international students with EIL UK. As she packs her bags and heads off to university, she told us about some of the memorable experiences hosting has given her and her family. Flo has also recently enjoyed a trip to Italy to see her friend Gina and taste ‘the best gelato’.

“I was about six years old when Mum and Dad hosted our first ever exchange student. She was a girl called Carmen from Venice, and I remember that she had a brother called Jorge, which she said was George in English. In the following summer, Jorge came to stay with us for three months. Another of the students that we hosted when we were younger was called Julia, I used to call her Juju. She was amazing, I became very close with her because she was just very lovely to me, and she would take her time to read me a bedtime story. I also remember Carolina, who was from Germany. She now lives in the UK and has a little dog called Kiwi. She still messages my Mum, and we still see her. Mum messages them all.

In September 2024, Gina came to stay with us for nearly six months. She was very outgoing, wanted to come out with us, wanted to spend time with me, and we just built a friendship from there. I think we realised we are very similar, and it was perfect timing because we’re only a year apart in age. She became friends with my friends, which was great because sometimes she would go to get her nails done with my friend without me and she just became friends with them as well.

Gina loved shopping, and so do I and we would go on trips to Birmingham, once with my dad and then with our friends. Most weeks we’d go to Home Bargains and me, Gina and my sister would buy a little kid’s toy and unwrap it in the car and buy some sweets to take home and watch a movie together. I liked that because it was the end of the week, and it was just a nice little treat. After Gina left us, we kept in touch through Snapchat and then arranged to meet again in Italy. I couldn’t wait to see her again.

Gina is from a town called Avellino, which is about an hour bus drive from Naples. In September 2025, I went with my best friends Louise, Tara and Jess to stay with Gina’s family. It was very lovely. I met her family, her mum, her sister, her aunts and her best friends from school. It was very sweet because they have their own little jokes. They were great fun, and you could tell that they had been friends for a very long time.

The best gelato and midnight games

We spent the days with her friends by the pool, which is close to her house, and we would get the best gelato. I love gelato, and we don’t have good ice cream like that in England. We played games like hide and seek in the garden, in the dark, and it was so funny. We ordered in pizzas at night, and her friends would stay over in her holiday house and just have a little girl’s night. We also went to Naples and Salerno and did lots more shopping! Gina’s friends are all in the same class and next year is their last year together before they all go off to university. We had the best time and have already planned for her to return to England with her friends.

Hosting international students has benefitted our whole family and we’ve made good connections with people from different countries. I feel that it has taught us how to understand people and be patient with them. From the student’s perspective, I’m sure we were a bit of a pain when we were younger! I do think we offer a very typical family atmosphere to them, which can be very relaxing because it just reminds them of their own home.”

To see Gina’s story click the button below: