My family has hosted two exchange students and will be hosting another exchange student this coming year, and we have loved it. I am an only child so we had always thought about taking someone into our family. A friend of our was a coordinator for an exchange program so when she told us she was looking for host families, we thought "hey why not?"
Our first exchange student was from Germany, and she came to live with us for a year when I was in the eighth grade. She is three years older than me, but it actually worked out perfect for us. Before long she became like a sister to me and we were inseparable. We had a fantastic year together, and she has actually come back to visit us four times now. In fact, she’s in town visiting us again right now! Two summers after she left, we had the opportunity to go visit her in Germany for two weeks, and we had a blast. We experienced so much of the culture and even learned a little bit of the language too! We saw the Berlin wall, castles, the Reichstag and so much more history. It has been an awesome experience.
Then, again my junior year of high school, we hosted another exchange student from Mexico. She was my age and yet again we became like sisters. It was fun that we were the same age because we had many of the same friends. We got to play soccer together and experiencing being teammates together was exciting! We were able to be in the same prom group as well. Her twin brother was also an exchange student in the U.S., so he actually got to come visit us in Kansas over Thanksgiving break, which was a blast! We learned so much from the two of them about their culture that we were not aware of. After she left, she went back to finish high school and both of us went to college last year, so unfortunately we haven’t been able to visit each other yet. But we are planning to go visit her as soon as we can!
Our next exchange student this year is from Brazil. He is planning on trying football and swimming. I’m excited to see what this coming year will bring!
With all of this being said, I think it’s clear that we have had awesome experiences hosting exchange students. You get to bring someone into your home for a year and learn all about what their country is like and build life-long relationships with them and their families. I would highly recommend that everyone should try it if they are able. It has definitely opened up my parents and my eyes that we had no clue about the lifestyles of people from different cultures. In fact, I know several of my friends, myself included, that couldn’t even find Germany on the map. I’m sure we are not the only ones out there that are culturally inept. So, if you are able, please try to host these kids because they are always looking for good families. If you are not able, try to get to know other people’s exchange students. You may surprise yourself and make a lifelong friend!
