Sanchez-Pando checks in

Malta has been host to many foreign exchange students over the years, but 2020 has presented the world with a complex issue that ended the school year early.

This week, the PCN caught up with Mario Sanchez-Pando of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to see things from his point of view. Sanchez-Pando was excited to participate in track and field this season, but due to the COVID-19 virus shutting down school and sports on Monday, March 16, his dream of competing never happened. Instead, he was sent home.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control website, Spain has the highest number of COVID-19 related deaths per million people in the world. The number was approximately 438 per one-million people on Monday, April 20.

Sanchez-Pando said that he knew of friends that had to return to Spain due to the virus, but he was under the impression that he was going to stay in the United States. That changed.

"When they told me the news, I still didn't believe it," Sanchez-Pando said. "I was in shock."

During the trip to Spain, he and Alba Gonzalez Palou, who is from Selza, wore masks and gloves. They also attempted to wash their hands frequently, a practice that they still follow daily. He likened his friendship with Gonzalez Palou to a cop movie in which an unlikely duo eventually becomes the best of friends.

In making it home to Palma de Mallorca, Sanchez-Pando had to take his precautions to another level. He said that the state of Spain was bad and that he couldn't even properly embrace his parents when he got home.

"When I arrived there was only my father and, although he already told me that I could not touch him, I gave him a hug," Sanchez-Pando said. "We could not touch the same things for fear that I was infected with the virus, because my mother is asthmatic."

Hugging his mother was out of the question. Leaving the house was also out of the question because Pedro Sanchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, declared a state of alarm that results in an instant fine if you are caught outside of your home. Inside his home, Mario had his own bottle of water, and his own bathroom. He said he had to open doors with his elbow and he quarantined himself inside.

"Seeing my family was somewhat shocking since I could not be near them," Sanchez-Pando said. "I could not eat with them, I could not touch them. And I have not seen my friends yet, I cannot leave the house and neither can they so there is still a need to wait. So close and yet so far."

Sanchez-Pando was also asked of his experience in Montana, prior to the COVID-19 virus.

"The culture, the people; It was like living in a movie," Sanchez-Pando said. "The experience of living in such a small town where everyone knows each other seemed very interesting to me."

He thought that living as an American was "really cool" and that being involved in the foreign exchange program was a big lesson for him. He learned a lot from living in Montana, including the English language and studies. He also appreciated the love of sports in Malta.

"How all the people support their team surprised me a lot when I arrived," Sanchez-Pando said.

He appreciated how everyone around him made the year so special. He mentioned how his sponsor family, the Smiths, truly became family while he was in Malta. He said that Kaitlyn, Tanner, and Erica, had become the older siblings that he had never had, and he was appreciative of Earl and Shonna for their generosity and welcoming him into their home. He said that Shonna would always be his American mother.

"To the Smith family, to all my friends; I know that there will always be the thought of 'What would have happened if all this had not happened' but I am very happy, happy because when looking back, it was a (great) year," Sanchez-Pando said.

Three weeks since his arrival, Sanchez-Pando confirmed that he and his family were still safe and are not sick from the virus. He has finished the academic work associated with high school for the year.