Youth exchange thoughts...
 

Are there any people out there who have either hosted a youth-exchange student or taken part as a student in such a program? What I'm looking for is some input on what you thought of the program. If you've been a youth-exchange student, where did you go?

Thanks

Question, are you thinking of hosting an exchange student or are you thinking of being an exchange student?

All I can tell you is that it is an experience of a lifetime. Many years ago, when I was 15 years old and was still living in my native country, i was a host exchange student in Salem. Oregon.
I was lucky enough to be a host with a family that had plenty of experience with exchange students, when I was there, already they have had students from Japan, Brasil, France, me Nicaraguan and some other countries. The kids from my host family had being exchange students in different countries around the world.
First few days i hated it, staying with people I have never seen in my life, attending a complete different school system, even the food was different. But when I returned home to finish high school, I was a different person, more responsible, a better student and had a different view of things in life.
When kids travel to Latin America as exchange students, they have it a little better, attending private schools, staying with families that have aabove average standard of living and some other things that make the experience even better.
If you need more info, write to me [email protected]

To clear it up, our daughter has chosen to spend her senior year in high school in Latvia. We're just trying to find out what she might experience.

Thanks for the replies so far. Looking for more.

i not only work for an exchange program, but have also had numerous students in our home, some voluntarily by choice, others due to home changes.
all in all, we love the experience.

what i do try to imbed into the students i send abroad is that the receiving family ( in the USA they receive NO MONEY TO HELP WITH FOOD on most programs) is doing this in the hopes that it will be a pleasant experience for them and their children, and obviously, the student i send also hopes for a good time.

in most cases the students are treated like family members. a students' treatment and experience in the end depends more on his attitude than he/she would like to think.

who cannot melt if a teenager is helpful and appreciative of the host family's efforts to make him comfortable?

the beginning is frightening for most kids.. but they usually have a local counselor who should be making them feel comfortable and answering any cultural difference questions they might have.

i am sure your daughter will have the experience of her life. they mature on these programs, because there of course is some degree of suffering.. family separation, language, new friends, etc.
but in the end, it will leave her a more mature enrichened young woman.

good luck.

enriched??
sorry.. don't really know the correct term. i am translating literally from spanish, but you know what i mean.

You meant gain. She meant that with so much to learn and experience, this girl has lots to gain nothing to loose.

lincasanova, for which program do you work?

How do I offer my 2 sons for a temporary exchange? Will they appreciate me more after that? :-?

Is there an exchange for husbands? Mine is nearly perfect, but it gets boring after 29 years :-p

Hi Faina, we sure are having rain, aren't we?

Perhaps you could start a TV show, trading husbands? O:)

Take care, and stay warm.

Magnumholmes, I have had a younger family member do a Sr. year exchange in Italy. He is now our "world traveler".
Only bad thing that happened is he picked up the smoking habit!

In the past I have had Italian exchange students. Always the most beautiful experiences for them and us.

Did have one exchange student once whose family lived in Italy but she was raised in S.America. Total disaster. Think (no, I know) that she just wanted to get away from her family to be wild and crazy to the extreme. The organization she came through were worthless. I unfortunatly had to have her removed from my house.

I was grateful that she was not the first exchange student I had hosted or I would have never done it again.

When my daughter was in HS there were lots of exchange students and they were a joy.

So all in all IMHO I think 99% of the time it is a beautiful and valuable experience for the host family and the student.

i work for a program that has been around for many years and started in madrid spain with an office in chicago area. CCI.

but gettng back to the experience, it is true, that some of these exchanges do not work out. or the student's, or the families' expectations are just not met. it is the realism with which a student is prepared for this experience that will help him not get his expectations out of proportion.

this new family relationship needs to be nurtured.. and some people, students and families alike, are unaware of the effort needed to do this.

it comes easily to some types of families. harder for others. some students , mainly because of lack of language, cannot make themselves or their appreciation even understood. so.. there are a lot of dynamics going on the first months.

my best advice to anyone going overseas on a program is to study as much of the language as you possibly can before you go. at least learn how to say in good "whatever" I am sory but my "xxx" is not so good..can you repeat that please?". read up on the current events and politics, too, so you can try to follow tlelvision news. also realize that you will be approached and asked for an opinion about your own country's politics whenever anything outstanding happens and is on world television.

also, take a photo album of your "life" from home and learn how to describe the pictures so you at least have one event you can share with the new host family.

Empty nest parent/s: writing thank you notes or short letters to the new host family, and birthday cards (in your own language)means a lot.

husband exchange???? hmmmm... interesting. there ARE adult versions of this in language centers..connected to language schools. (It is a very reasonable way to visit a foreign city , BTW.) But would we really feel so comfortable sending our DH to paris to study french for a month and live with a famiy???





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Maybe my response won't mean anything to the topic, but just yesterday while working in downtown Seattle, I recognized an exchange student from Norway whom I'd seen before. She had with her an exchange student from Germany who was hosted by the same family she's with in Washington, and another exchange student from Norway who was on Christmas break from/with her Las Vegas family.

It was just these three exchange students exploring downtown Seattle together, and they were a complete joy to witness and learn from.

After gaining as much as I possibly could from them, I asked if they had been or were going to the Space Needle (most recognizable Seattle landmark). They responded: "It costs $13.00 to go up there, and that's too expensive"

Soon after that I simply gave them $20 toward the cost of the Space Needle, because I just didn't want the short-time visitor to miss the chance to go back to Norway, then one day see "Seattle" in the news, and not be able to say to all in her presence, while pointing at the Space Needle, that she had "BEEN THERE".

I just wanted to testify to the fact that most exchange students are GEMS.

Tourists in general are often extremely sincere when asking for directions or information, but young exchange students have a pleasant mix of being somewhat comfortable and familiar with their surroundings, and not quite so rushed, still with the wide-eyed interest that is especially visible in young people and those in foreign lands.

If what I have seen is any indication, YOUR DAUGHTER will gain most by CAUSING HER OWN MIND to expand and be more understanding of others all while gaining personal CONFIDENCE with incentives that you can't quite duplicate at home.

Put a different way, it is one thing for her to observe wide-eyed interest in her by others when it is some "senior" kid trying to take advantage of her after school, but quite another to sense a mother, father, and one or more of their offspring (in Latvia) completely fascinated by what she has to say or share.

(Then the host family explains Latvian versions of the most taken-for-granted aspects of your daughter's American life) [the concepts aren't difficult, like Calculus would be, but they are fascinating to minds that never considered any other ways...]

The girls I met yesterday behaved and interacted like adults, and were very sincere in addressing my obvious interest in their places of origin.

I hope this builds your confidence. I say your daughter's own mind will woo itself to evolve in ways that you can't possibly simulate back home.

P.S. - Yes, I told the exchange students that they would have "bad karma" if they went and spent my $20 on a pizza.

Both of my daughters spent a year of high school in an exchange program through YFU (Youth for Understanding). One went to Spain, the other to France. It was a great experience for both of them. It is HARD to put your kid on a plane, sending them to live with a strange family. And I can only imagine it was hard for them to get on that plane! But they both learned so much and became much better citizens of the world.

If you would like to email me at [email protected] I would be happy to put you and/or your daughter in touch with mine.

Incidently, a warning.. it is the start of something bigger. One ended up spending a college semester in Paris and the other is now at the University of Tubingen in Germany. It's habit forming!

Most of host families in the usa and around the world have lots of experience with the foreign kids and really appreciate having them. in my group we were about 75 kids from nicaragua and el salvador. we all flew to dallas and following morning we were separated in small groups, depending in final destination. it was a weird feeling arriving with a name tag and been called by someone you have never seen before.
i would recommend they pick a country where the language of interest is spoken.

I exchanged my youth for some old guy in the mirror. :'(

Oh Kal, join the club! LOL :-!

Thanks for the replies so far. There is a lot of good info in them.

It's still a ways away, but I think it will do my daughter some good in a program like this, away frokm some of the distractions she seems to have in our small town.

Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

I lived in France with a French family for 6 months. My son also spent a year in Bolivia. For both of us, it was incredible!!. It's one of the best learning experiences your child will ever have. It's one thing to "visit" a country, but to live there and experience the culture is the best!

My son went to Japan for his Junior year in high school. He went throught the Rotary International's Youth Exchange Program. I'm not a Rotairan.

They did almost a whole year of screening and meetings to prepare for the year away. This included many meetings with foreign students going to school in the US.

I would reccommend this organization to anyone interested. Check with your school's guidance office or a local Rotarian.

sam