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I'd like to do 2 again but I'm afraid that our high school principal would cry if we added another one at this late date! :( There's one from Brazil who would fit in as well as one from Finland and one from Chile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekdee (Post 2160635)

The next year, the exchange student was from South Africa and stayed with another family. When they found out she was on birth control pills, a complete freak out occurred and they refused to let her remain in their home, even though she was not promiscuous -- the b.c. pills were for medical reasons. They didn't care and wanted her to go back to South Africa, but my neighbors stepped in and that's how they got their second exchange student!

That is so ignorant. Birth control pills are the standard treatment for serious iron-deficiency anemia in teens, along with iron supplements. My sister (now a pediatrician) had to take them in HS. They dramatically decrease blood loss, which is the most common cause of the anemia. Now she has to have periodic IV iron supplementation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekdee (Post 2160635)

We hosted an exchange student from France in 2011. He was only here for two weeks, but it was a very rewarding experience for the whole family. I just wish the program had been for a little longer. Two weeks wasn't nearly enough time.

Some of our good friends hosted a girl from Germany a couple of years ago. She was here for the entire school year and they truly loved it. This year, we have friends who will be hosting a young man from Sweden for the entire school year. He should be arriving very soon!

While I was in high school, my neighbors hosted three exchange students. They hosted the first one to ever come to our high school or community, so it was a HUGE deal. She was from South America and one of the kindest, sweetest, most gentle-spirited people I have ever met. Our neighbor's oldest daughter (a senior) did struggle with some jealousy issues because the exchange student got so much attention, but it all worked out.

The next year, the exchange student was from South Africa and stayed with another family. When they found out she was on birth control pills, a complete freak out occurred and they refused to let her remain in their home, even though she was not promiscuous -- the b.c. pills were for medical reasons. They didn't care and wanted her to go back to South Africa, but my neighbors stepped in and that's how they got their second exchange student!

The NEXT year, the exchange student was a guy from Sweden. The original host family thought he was too wild because he didn't understand why he couldn't have wine with dinner...long story short, my neighbors ended up taking him, too! After that (my senior year), our neighbors got transferred, so the new exchange student stayed with someone else in my neighborhood. He was from South America and I brought him home from school everyday. WONDERFUL person -- we're actually trying to find him right now in hopes he'll come to our class reunion this fall.

My sister's experience with a female Swedish exchange student is similar ('Swee-Dee' was my sister's fourth foreign exchange student).

Apparently Swee-Dee was brought-up to be very independent from a young age. She rebelled against legitimate curfews and don't-go-into-those-kinds-of-neighborhoods requests; she even called her father in Sweden who saw nothing wrong with his daughter's independent attitude and everything wrong with American Attitudes Toward Teens.

My sister and the sponsoring Exchange Organization sent Swee-Dee off into deep midwestern farmlands far away from the big, magic American city she couldn't/wouldn't ignore.

Yiii! We heard stories like that before we hosted but really, the only problem we've had is that a couple of them came from hugely rich families and they didn't realize things like, say, your average American can't take off a day without notice to run you to the passport office in Atlanta. (Nor can your average person from their country.) Or, like many American teens, they were in love with their cell phones, iPods, etc., and we'd all go to the beach and they'd be standing on the beach texting their friends at home that they were on an American beach.

The French student we had came over with a group of 22 kids. All but two of them were smokers, which threw some host families for a loop. I was okay with it as long as he smoked outside, but it turns out I got one of the non-smokers. His first night here, he presented me with a gift from his parents, which was a bottle of French wine. My husband sent them back a bottle of Jack Daniels! :) (Apparently very hard, or very expensive, to get over there -- they loved it.)

Our friends who are currently hosting the boy from Sweden have had a great year with him. The first trip they took him on was to an Auburn football game. He will go home this summer with a big collection of Auburn clothes, and he has really mastered the "War Eagle" yell.

LOLOL! I can only imagine the kid letting a "Warrrrr EAGLE!" rip in Europe. I myself have always wanted to teach an exchange student to call the Hogs.:D

I think the "woo pig sooie" would trump "war eagle" as far as getting strange looks in Europe. We went to the Cotton Bowl one year when Tennessee played Arkansas. Our hotel was full of Hogs and we heard that call day and night. (Especially after Arkansas won.)

I've toyed with the idea of hosting another exchange student, but doing it for the entire school year this time. My friend across the street (who hosted a girl from Germany a few years ago) is also interested. It would be neat if we could do it at the same time. The only bad experience they had was that a teacher (we could have wrung her neck) put it in the girl's head that she needed to try out for cheerleader while she was here. She tried out for the basketball cheer squad, which wasn't as stunt-oriented as the football squad was, but she was still competing against girls who had cheered for years and had cheer-gymnastics backgrounds. Of course, she didn't make it and was heartbroken. My friend confronted the teacher and said "WHY did you encourage that?" The teacher said she thought it would be good for Charlotte to do something they don't have in Europe. Well, the key words are "don't have," so she was attempting something that requires experience and there is a lot of competition for those spots. We found out she loved to swim, so we encouraged her to go out for the swim team -- which she did and it worked out a whole lot better than cheerleading did!

The high school had a foreign exchange program with a high school in Italy. We take the Italians for 2 weeks, and then we send our kids back to Italy with their families for 2 weeks. Chaperoned by teachers, so you would think it would be safe.

It was a nightmare, nothing but party, including lots of drugs that the wilder Americans found for the wilder Italians. We couldn't wait for our Italian to go back home.

The principal cancelled the return trip, and our Americans did not go to Italy for their leg of the journey. Good call.

Roundoff back handspring!

Our German student was just chosen as the junior representative to the Homecoming Court of our huge high school!

It's that time of year and I hope that all you guys who keep approaching me about hosting an exchange student will step up to the plate and do it this year!

On deck for the Carnations this fall: 2 girls, 1 from Chile (a fall semester only student) and 1 from Germany whose background is actually Portuguese and Indian. We're so excited!

I was an exchange student my junior year of high school and it changed my life! I would not be where I am today (a Foreign Service Officer, my dream job) without it. Yay for hosting students!

My sister spent part of a summer with a family in France in the mid-80s, and their daughter came here the following summer. Our families are still good friends almost 30 years later, with many visits back and forth over the decades. When an exchange goes well, it can go REALLY well.