On Sunday, August 17th, a tired, but excited sixteen-year old Spaniard Alberto Roma stepped out of Tom Bradley Terminal to experience his first moments in America. Through the crowd, he spotted his host mom Amy Zimmerman, waving wildly from beyond security. "I've been texting with your mom," she exclaimed. "I told her I'd let her know when you got through customs." With only a couple of bags on his back, but a smile on his face, Alberto couldn't contain his happiness about finally being here to start his experience. "My brother and cousins, who did a student exchange three years ago, told me 'When you wake up in Spain, you don't want to go to high school--it's boring, but in America, it's exciting every day.'"
Alberto, a Spanish pro beach volleyball phenom, hails from Adeje, on the southern side of the Canary Islands. After the Rotary Student Orientation program, he will attend Palos Verdes High School, where he plans to try out for the football team, something not possible in Spain, because it's an American sport. "One of my house rules is, don't say no to anything," Amy told me while hosting a Welcome party for Alberto, which a number of Redondo Beach Rotarians attended.