They say distance can bring people closer and even make the heart grow fonder. Two Elon University sophomores, Valeria Rizzi and Nathaniel Henderson, are living proof as they formed their relationship in high school in Morocco, maintained it after he moved to Texas and are continuing it while sophomores at Elon.
For Rizzi’s sophomore year of high school, her father signed into an expatriate job that caused them to move to Morocco. An expatriate job-one that entails moving to another country-and moved the family to Morocco. Rizzi soon learned to love the culture of Morocco.
“Life in Morocco is very different from here. It’s the complete opposite because here it’s really quiet, there it’s really loud and chaotic,” Rizzi said. “There’s so much more life in a sense, because here you don’t hear people laughing as much on the street. They’re a lot happier and more relaxed people as a whole.”
Rizzi’s stay in Morocco lasted until she completed high school. That was a relatively long time compared to other expatriate families, like that of Nathaniel Henderson who only stayed for a year.
Henderson is originally from Houston, Texas. Also an expatriate, he found himself in Morocco the same summer as Rizzi for his sophomore year of high school. The two met at an American school with two other expatriates.
“We all just hung out together, more than with the Moroccans. They’d all been with each other since preschool, so they don’t bother making friends with expatriate kids at a certain point,” Rizzi said.
Since expatriate children typically only stay in a country for a few years, the natives don’t make much of an effort to build relationships with the temporary residents. As a result, the four expatriate students, including Rizzi and Henderson, stuck together. They began dating in Morocco, but for Henderson to take Rizzi on a date, their date options were minimal.
“There wasn’t much to do because I didn’t have a car there and it’s not safe,” Henderson said. “We went to the beach for the day or maybe a cafe, but we didn’t really get to go on what you would call a date until [we came to] Elon.”
After Henderson’s sophomore year of high school in Morocco, he returned back to the United States. The couple decided to continue their relationship from Morocco to the United States. The couple kept in touch through skype sessions, as well as summer visits to the United States to see Henderson and Italy to see Rizzi.
“It wasn’t easy,” Rizzi said. “It puts so much more pressure, since you never see the person, you feel this pressure to make any kind of meeting count.”
Senior year of high school, Valeria and Henderson teamed up in the college search.
During one of Rizzi’s summer visits to the United States, the Henderson family introduced her to several American colleges. The majority of the colleges they visited were in Texas, where Henderson resided, but they also toured schools in North Carolina, one being Elon.
After waiting to hear the decision on their collegiate futures, the two were both accepted to and independently decided to attend Elon.
A new challenge arose for Rizzi with a transition from Moroccan culture to that of the United States.
“You definitely experience culture shock. I came straight from Morocco,” Rizzi said. “It was kind of hard because my family is still there. That was the hardest thing because they’re my support, but at least he [Henderson] was here.”
Even with culture shock, Rizzi was not alone. Henderson had similar feelings as Rizzi since he spent several summer’s abroad.
“Even after leaving the country for just a year you experience culture shock. The way of life is different, things are much slower there, too,” he said.
At Elon, Rizzi and Henderson have found their own niches and passions.
An entrepreneurship major, Henderson has a business in the works and is also interested in world events and news.
As a French major, Rizzi is involved in the French LLC and is also a biochemistry major. She hopes to one day earn a PhD and become a genetic engineer.
Since both even live in the Global Neighborhood, the distance is no longer a challenge for their relationship. “It’s less stressful here. It’s kind of cool because we don’t have two totally separate lives and we have mutual friends,” Henderson said.
As the two continue their relationship at Elon, they reflect back on the challenges an overseas relationship brought.
“It was tough, but it was worth it,” Rizzi said to Henderson.
“Sometimes it didn’t feel like it was worth it,” Henderson teased back. “But I’m glad we did it.”