Where Summer Feels Like Home: Students Reconnect With Family and Culture Abroad

   As Jeremy Zhang ‘27 boards his flight every summer to China, he is not only returning to his family but back into his world of language, tradition and culture that he misses during the school year in Los Angeles. 

   Zhang ‘ was born in Shanghai, China but moved to Los Angeles in ninth grade for his studies. However, his family did not move with him and is back home in China. Zhang lives with a host family during the school year and gets to see his family a few times in the year during holidays and spends the summer with them. Although he enjoys both places very much, he definitely misses his family and speaking his first language, Mandarin, like he does at home in China. When he is in China with his family over the summer, he cherishes every moment of reconnecting with his culture. Just this past summer, Zhang travelled to Hong Kong and went to Disney with his family. 

   “Being able to speak our own language is our way of connection,” Zhang said. “It’s really hard to connect with them when I am in LA because I have to go to school and can’t talk to them a lot since they’re just super far away from me.”

   Although he is always sad to leave his family in China at the end of the summer, he also looks forward to coming back to California as he has now formed new connections here as well.

   Unlike Zhang, Mia Liuzzo ‘27 was born in Los Angeles, but both of her parents grew up in Italy so she has grown up spending all her summers there with family. The town that she visits, Galati Mamertino, is small and everybody knows one another; It is a very close community. Liuzzo has a big family in Galati Mamertino and because they rarely come out to visit in Los Angeles she only gets to be with them over the summer. She spends lots of time with her Nona and although there is not much to do in the town she loves getting to be around her family. During the year her parents try to keep the Italian culture alive in their household. 

   “Throughout the year, my parents will speak to me in Italian and I’ll respond in English, but I feel like being there [In Italy] where I get to also exercise that part of my culture and get to speak Italian is super special,” Liuzzo said. “It is really helpful for reminding me of where I’m from and even in my household during the year we definitely keep the Italian culture going, especially with the food and how together we are as a family. But I also feel like there are traditions that we just can’t celebrate or acknowledge here so it is definitely different.” 

   Similarly for Lilli Vazart ‘27, summers abroad are not just about travel, they’re about reconnecting with what she calls her “second life”. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Vazart spends nearly every summer traveling between different regions of Europe. 

Vazart’s dad lives in Florence Italy, and the rest of her family lives spread across various regions of Europe.It’s a bitter sweet experience. Sometimes it’s really amazing because I get to go to these places and meet amazing people, but then sometimes it of course has its hard parts. It’s different, but it still feels like my life is just in a different place.” 

  During the school year Vazart’s life is firmly rooted in LA, however when the summer comes around she steps back into a different environment and rhythm, one she’s known since she was a child. She usually starts the summer at her dads house in Florence with her stepmom and two younger brothers. She spends a few weeks there before heading to Switzerland to see her grandparents. For Vazart the most meaningful part of the summers isn’t the travel but instead is the time spent doing everyday activities with family. With family from so many different parts of the world, Vazart’s identity has always been split between countries and continents. 

  “It’s definitely a mix of emotions like happiness and excitement for the next trip, and the next memories that will be made, but also sadness and kind of bittersweetness every time I leave,” Vazart said.