[azasadny]

Our family is seriously considering hosting a student this year. Our 17year old daughter Becky made best friends with two Austrian girls who were hosted by people in our town. We have to decide soon because the student would arrive some time in late August. We're thinking that a girl close to Becky's age would be perfect.

The two families who hosted the Austrian girls and the two girls themselves recommended us to the organization and said that we would be "perfect". Beth and I hosted a Japanese girl way back in 1988 or so for a few months during the summer when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA and we all really enjoyed the experience.

Beth is not working and is looking for a teaching job, so money is extremely tight for us, but this really isn't as much of a financial commitment as it is a commitment to spend the time and effort to be sure this person really feels comfortable in our home and gets an excellent experience.

Since Becky is really into dance, swimming, rowing and playing the cello (and her dog, Daisy), the organization would try to match us up with another girl with similar interests. We're thinking a German or Austrian, but it could be any country... The Austrian student really loves our pool and comes over to swim with Becky and our next-door neighbors quite often. Both exchange students spent quite a bit of time at our home and seemed to be very comfortable, pleasant and fun to be around.

We're a pretty low-key, low maintenance family so we want to be sure we get a good match so it's a positive experience for all involved.

Has anyone here ever hosted an exchange student or know someone who did? What was your experience like?