Foreign exchange students?

[Macy]

Has anyone ever hosted a foreign exchange student before? We are considering it for next year. Student would attend same high school as my son. And he must love dogs. Would be interested in your feedback.

[zd262]

My family had a foreign exchange student when I was a junior in high school. Both my siblings had gone to college at that time so it was just me. I hated the experience. She spoke no English (which was a requirement of the program so not sure how she got around that...), luckily my dad is fluent in Spanish so it worked out. As a junior in high school, I had a heavy workload and was in the middle of my recruitment season for college soccer. I felt like she had no rules and took advantage of my parents, both in terms of getting to do whatever she wanted, and getting money out of them. Considering that she was given an allowance, went on several expensive family trips with us, and was generally treated just the same as any of their other children, I did not feel like she returned the favor to my parents by showing respect or gratitude.

But I know there are plenty of people how have good experiences, so that's just mine

[Jollymolly]

I had friends that did it and they ended out sending the kid back to Germany. I really think it depends on the teenager you get. Keep in mind that a majority of other countries are far ahead in schooling and to a lot of exchange students its all about the fun they can have while gone. Well thats my opinion

[shellbell]

When I was in high school we had exchange students from Germany come over. A few of my friends family's hosted them. I don't remember any major issues, other than quite a few of them smoked, which I think was more socially acceptable in Germany for young people to smoke in front of their parents and such. So just keep cultural differences like that in mind, I remember them smoking around adults all the time which was weird for me as a high school student.

[smartrock]

We had 2 students from Spain when each of my kids was in 11th grade for just 3 months. One of them was with us on 9/11 and that put a damper on some of the activities the group had planned. That one spoke very little English (we think her Mom really pushed for this to happen), had a very limited diet, went through 3 boxes of Lucky Charms per week, wouldn't eat fresh fruit or vegetables. There was almost no effort to talk to us except through our kid. Let's just say, challenging. The second one was much more outgoing, wanted to practice speaking English all the time, made several friends. Like zd262, my kids had heavy work loads so they didn't feel like it was the same lark for them as it was for the exchange students. Both my kids then visited their families in Spain a year or 2 later during the summer, which was fun for them. I was working at the time and both the exchange students would miss the bus to come home once in a while. It took them a bit to get into the swing of things and the program they came with had several trips during their stay, to D.C., NYC, etc., so the academic side of their stay was pretty undemanding when my kids were working their behinds off. A full academic year student would probably be easier.