Imagine sitting down with your parents and telling them you wished you were born in another country. And later, finding out your wish was about to come true.
Nacho Salmeron Diaz, a 17-year-old from Melilla, Spain learned to be careful what you ask for.
Nacho was eating at a restaurant with his parents and sister. He made the statement, “I wish I was born in the U.S.” His parents, without informing their son, started the process of sending him to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student.
At the same time in Nebraska, Melissa Nelsen was having a conversation with a friend who hosted a foreign exchange student. The conversation led to the Nelsen’s receiving a phone call from the Education First (EF) local coordinator Ruth Bloedorn of Wisner.
The Nelsen’s didn’t plan to become a host family for a foreign exchange student. When Kyle was growing up, his family had a foreign exchange student from Brazil. Kyle and Melissa, along with their son, Colson, decided to discuss hosting a student. Colson had always wanted a brother and his parents told him this was his only chance for it to happen.
After lengthy discussions, the final decision came down to Colson deciding if he wanted a foreign exchange student for an entire year. He decided he would like to have a brother during his senior year. This was the best decision they have ever made.
Nacho said, “At first I didn’t want to come here.” He was scared to live with a random family in the U.S. He further said, “They (his parents) started the paperwork and for three months they didn’t tell me."
The time came and they finally told Nacho that he was traveling to the U.S. to stay for a year. He said it was one to two months before he went on his unchartered adventure. He responded to his parents saying, “No way! You are joking.”
He finally came to the decision that he was just going to the U.S. Once aware, Nacho saw a physician and received all the vaccinations needed, gathered recommendations from his teachers, applied for a VISA and took an English test. Nacho speaks Spanish fluently and upon coming to the U.S., he was at an eighth-grade level in English.
The Nelsens worked with a coordinator discussing important facts like they wanted a boy who liked basketball and sports. Ruth already had a match in mind. She told them she had someone that she thought would be great. They needed to be approved before they would be able to learn anything about their future exchange student. Their entire family needed to go through background checks.
The day came as the Nelsons were driving home from their vacation. They were on the beach in Alabama, and they received their first picture of Nacho. Their first thought was how much he looked like Colson.
Nacho and Colson connected on Instagram and Snap Chat. They were able to video chat before they met each other in person.
The distance of 4,820 miles separated the two families.
The Nelsens live in Wayne. The landscape can be described as low hills with agriculture dominating the landscape. The town is 2.25 square miles with a population of over 6,000 people.
Nacho comes from Melilla, Spain. Melilla is located on the coast of Northern Africa. The city is known as an autonomous city of Spain even though it is located in Africa because it was conquered by Spain in 1497 and remained a territory ever since. It has a population of 84,000 people, which is considered small for Spain. The city covers five square miles. You can see the Mediterranean Sea. For travel within the city, people walk or bike to most places. If you want to go anywhere further, you will need to take a plane. The city is known for fountains, beaches, and museums.
August quickly approached for the official introduction of the newest family member of the Nelsens. Nacho said, “I was so nervous that day.”
Colson and Nacho met and have been just like brothers. Nacho said, “It has been great!. It has been the best year of my life.”
Nacho enrolled as a senior at Wayne High School. He played football for three days before sustaining a second-degree A/C joint separation, after which he stopped participating in football. He assisted Colson in coaching the fifth/sixth grade football team, played basketball and is currently on the track team.
Nacho has enjoyed his senior year trying new experiences with Colson and all of his new friends. They enjoyed teaching him Bowser ball, dressing up and cheering in the student section at sporting events. Every Thursday is Runza Night. This is especially special because Nacho fell in love with ranch dressing. Ranch and double fries was his regular order. He came to the U.S. disliking pizza until the Nelsens ordered Bacon ranch pizza. Nacho said, “He loves ranch!”
Melissa said Nacho does not like any spicy food. One time she tried to create a home-made dish from Spain, but they all decided to not try that again.
They all enjoyed sharing funny stories about the past year including Nacho’s first experience with black ice. Also, Nacho being able to elude the senior assassins (a game played in pairs of senior students) even if he did need to wear a pair of goggles the last lap of track practice and run all the way home. Another story told was how he snuck up on Calvin Ankeny in Hartington with his prom date and squirted him with his water gun as he was hiding behind his car. More laughs came from Nacho being hypnotized at post prom and singing a love song to a cup being filled with juice and driving a car. All the funny stories created many lifetime memories that will never be forgotten.
Nacho will graduate with the senior class and in June will depart to New York to take a very large test for two to three days assisting him in preparing for his future plans before going back home to Spain.
Nacho has kept from being homesick by video chatting with his family weekly, playing video games with his friends in Spain and sending messages back and forth with his parents.
As the time with Nacho approaches the end, Colson and Nacho continue to make unforgettable memories with friends and the Nelsens.
Leaving will be difficult for everyone, but the Nelsens are already making plans to go visit Nacho in the future.
The Nelsens have absolutely no regrets in the decision they made to accept Nacho into their family. They both said it was a great experience for everyone, and it couldn’t have gone any better than it did.
