A lifelong friendship, sparked by Mayte Garcia-Romera’s stay in Iola as a foreign exchange student 20 years ago, was reignited this month, with an added flair.
Garcia-Romero, in Iola to visit Christy Cleaver and other old friends, brought her mother, Ana Garcia, from their native Madrid, Spain.
It’s her mother’s first trip to the United States, Garcia-Romera said.
Mother and daughter were staying in Iola for a week before heading to New York City for a week’s worth of sight-seeing before returning to Spain.
Garcia-Romero arrived in Iola for the 1992-93 school year to stay with Cleaver and her family.
She enjoyed the stay so much, she returned to Iola for her senior year, even though she was no longer a part of the student exchange program.
“We were thrilled she came back,” Cleaver said.
The bond between Garcia-Romero and her host family was instant and has grown ever stronger.
She returned stateside for a visit a few years later before agreeing it was time to bring her 67-year-old mother.
“I love it very much,” she said through her daughter’s translation. “Everything is so big and wide open here. All I knew about America before this was what I got from movies and the news on television.”
Cleaver was able to visit Garcia-Romera in Spain once before, and hopes to do so again with her two children, including her daughter, Mayte. (She was named after Garcia-Romera).
“The only hard part is saying goodbye,” Cleaver said. “They’re family now.”
Foreign friendship renewed
