Hosting a foreign exchange student for a year?

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by gshase

We had a girl stay with us that was from Bangkok. We had a great time

I'll be you did.

[Bill Douglas]

My cousin had an exchange student from Sweden.

OMG she set new levels in just how beautiful a girl could be. Jeez, I can hardly breathe.

[on2wheels52]

My wife's brother in Iowa hosted a girl from Germany a few years ago, was the same age as her daughter. She has flown back twice on her on dime to visit, once was for their other daughter's wedding.
They are in Germany right now, visiting the girl and her family.
btw, it cost her another year in school, a lot of the classes didn't transfer.
The high school in my town has a GAP program that exchanges students both ways with their 'sister city' but we weren't involved personally.
Jim

[azasadny]

The Austrian exchange student that was here for 6 months is here visiting this summer for two months and she was over last night. She told us that we are "perfect" to host because our home isn't too "crazy" (her words). Her host family had 5 or 6 kids and the other Austrian exchange student was hosted by a family with no kids, so that was a little boring for her. We have a daughter and a son and there's always something going on at our house (band practice, kids in the pool, Beth cooking for people, etc...).

We can turn the music room upstairs into a bedroom pretty easily.

[coldstart]

My parents had an 18-year old exchange student from Brazil to live with them last year for five months. Great experience for them. She and her mother returned a few days ago to visit.

I have to say that a bunch of my friends were kind of creepy with her. Way too young for me even though I was single during that period.

[Mothy]

Austrian and Finnish girls have come back for a visit again once they finished school. My wife and daughter have visited the one from France.

The one from USA is a teacher like my eldest daughter and came out on her honeymoon to my daughters wedding last year. The one from England who lived with us for a year ended up staying in Australia and her family emigrated!!

I have to say that they have all been stunning young ladies in their different ways yet my son was always on his best behaviour - something about sh##ing on your own door step.

[Rikao4]

my favorite niece is in Marrakesh now..
her Mom & I were there many moons ago...
told her..
don't do what your Mom did..
what did she do..?
Sis gave me a tap to the noggin..
shut up..pass the salad..

thankfully she's street & book smart..

Rika

[azasadny]

We're still discussing it. My wife is concerned about our finances as she lost her teaching job at the end of the school year. even with the increased salary at me new job at Ford, we are still significantly short of what we were at before, so the timing for this could be better.

[azasadny]

We're going to a meeting with the organization rep that runs the program this PM. We have found an excellent match, a young girl from Norway the same age as our daughter with very similar interests. She's a vegetarian, so Beth can cook veggie meals for her and me and she is interested in the same things we are. I spoke to a gentleman at work who has hosted 4 kids and he highly recommended the kids from Norway and said that we had covered all of the important points. Tonight will decide whether or not we do this...

[azasadny]

Our student arrives on Friday, so we spent the day getting the bedroom ready and moving stuff around. We turned the music room into a bedroom for our student and our daughter, picked up a spare bed from my father's, cleaned everything up and cleaned out closets, etc... Now I have a drumset in our bedroom until we can figure out what to do with it...

We've been in contact with our student and her parents via email and we sent them info about us, our town and the school their daughter will be attending. We included pics and they seemed to enjoy that. Becky and Dina have been exchanging emails and I think that will help her adjust to our family...

[vash]

cool!!

what are the cost to you? just feeding her? her parents kick in?

[azasadny]

Cliff,
We pay for food, lodging and misc things that we want to give her. Her parents pay for most of it and she will have $200 a month spending $ for movies, eating out with friends, etc... We provide her three meals a day and when we take her with us, we will pay for meals, just like one of our kids. The big committment isn't money, it's time and effort to make sure she has a good, safe and rewarding experience here. We're really looking forward to this "adventure"!

[azasadny]

We found out that her student year at our school will count towards her degree in Norway, so we have to be sure she takes the required classes, etc... Beth is a teacher, so this part may be easier for us.

[genrex]

This is a really fun thread to read. Thank you.

Fun times ahead at your house. I'm still grinning about the drum set...

_

[vash]

cool deal ART. sounds like fun.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by azasadny

We found out that her student year at our school will count towards her degree in Norway, so we have to be sure she takes the required classes, etc... Beth is a teacher, so this part may be easier for us.

Ha. When I did the junior year abroad in college, my GPA was to carry over and I'd get 30 credits for the year. I just had to prove I was registered for classes. In Germany you can take college courses for grades or for "participation cards." The latter just requires you register for the class and show up once in a while. So that's what I did. Finally, after feeling guilty for doing just about no schoolwork for months, I volunteered to do a term paper and lead a class discussion about it. That was a bit of a challenge in college-level, written German in the days before online translators and the Internet. Once I was done I treated myself to a week in Graz, Austria.

When I returned to school in the US, the registrar told me I had to have the chairman of the German department translate my school docs. I went to see him about that. He interviewed me for about two min. in German and, satisfied I knew what I was talking about, then said, "Ok, write up your own translations and I'll sign them." That's all I had to do to get 30 credits.

When I did it in high school, my US-based German teacher said I just had to attend classes, write him a letter a week in German and keep a diary in German. That counted an "independent study" semester, I got full credit for it and an award at graduation for excellence in German. Studying abroad is definitely the way to go!

[Touque]

Originally Posted by azasadny

Our student arrives on Friday, so we spent the day getting the bedroom ready and moving stuff around. We turned the music room into a bedroom for our student and our daughter, picked up a spare bed from my father's, cleaned everything up and cleaned out closets, etc... Now I have a drumset in our bedroom until we can figure out what to do with it...

We've been in contact with our student and her parents via email and we sent them info about us, our town and the school their daughter will be attending. We included pics and they seemed to enjoy that. Becky and Dina have been exchanging emails and I think that will help her adjust to our family...

This is great Art! Congrats for deciding to be a host parent. Out daughter (now 17) just arrived home from a year in Germany about 3 weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience for her. We have decided to be a host for her 'sister' in Germany that she spent the last year with, making this a true exchange, although not at the same time. She's arriving in Thursday and we are getting her room ready as well. I think we can really be a positive influence on a young person's life and we are all looking forward to showing her around and being north American for a year! Good luck!

[GWN7]

I know two women who "host" students. Most of these kids parents are very well off. One kid from Germany had his own maid at home to clean up after him. That changed the first week he was here. He thought the host was going to clean up after him. Turned out to be a pretty good kid other than being a slob at the start of his stay.

They get $600 a month per kid. Sometimes they have two at a time.

[Touque]

there's a few big Exchange organizations around (Rotary, YFU) and I haven't heard of the host parents getting paid - I know we're not getting anything. It costs the students parents quite a bit though to send them overseas.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

My in-laws hosted three exchange students as their youngest was coming up.

First was French and very nice, well mannered, happy to be here.

Second was Norwegian. Came from a very good family, wanted to come to The States to expand her horizons. Wonderful experience.

Third was from Norway. Girl came to The States to try and find a husband (17). She was trouble, stayed out late, major issues. She was also huge into p0rnogr@phy. Their computer was toasted with stuff and the girl posted on sites searching for men. She was sent home.

From my discussions with the girls I found out the vegetarianism was more about avoiding any risk of mad cow disease or other such things. They are aware of the issues of so many farmers feeding their stock bird manure instead of grass or grains. They would eat fresh water or Gulf fish, avoided anything from the great lakes.

If she is truly vegetarian then I suggest you get an additional set of cookware, maybe find some pyrex skillets and pots in another color. Go to garage sales, etc. Clean very well, boil water in them, sterilize them. Let the student know you have done this and keep these dishes for ONLY vegetarian dishes.

Make sure you provide enough protein, the student will require this to grow!

Best of luck, it can be a very wonderful experience!