Since you are sending rather than hosting, this does not really apply to your daughter. Our local high school regularly hosts several students each year thru recognized exchange programs. Almost always it goes flawlessly - a great experience for all. However, friends who hosted had some real trauma and drama with their guest - nothing really different than you might find with any rebellious teenager - but more difficult to deal with if teenager is not your own. I am sure these exchanges try very hard to make a good match between host and guest and are used to dealing with fallout if it does not work out.

If you are concerned about your child going into a foreign country and living with strangers, believe me, you have little to worry about. The type of family that signs up to host foreign students do it because they want to share their home, family, and culture. Most programs do not give monetary compensation to the host families even though the student pays money to enter the program. (I'd be wary of programs that pay the host family money.) Check out the youth exchange program thoroughly. A good program will physically investigate the host family's housing accomodations, have strict rules for the student and the family, and has a good support system for both parties when problems arise. Chances are there may be times when conflicts between the family and student arise, and a good program will try to fix the problems. Check to see how long the program has been in existence, and how many students they handle each year. The longer they've been around, the better they are at knowing what problems to expect and how to handle them. There should be a local coordinator living in the area to handle these problems. Many problems are cultural-based and misunderstanding occur, so a good coordinator will guide the family and student, even offering psychological assistance as to what to expect and understand the different phases the student and family goes through.

However, the rewards are great, for both the student and the hosting family. We hosted a German boy for one whole school year, and girls from Japan on shorter homestays. They have become part of our extended family and stay in touch with us. They still write or call me their "American mom" or simply "mom."

Thanks for the replies again, and the reassurances.

Our daughter went on a People to People trip to Europe (Italy, Monaco, France and Spain) after her freshman year, and after a week or so, the trip went pretty smoothly. So she has been away from us, but it was only for 23 days. This is nine to 10 months.

This youth exchange she's going to be taking part in is the Rotary Club, and from what I've read and heard, it's a top-notch organization in everything, including youth exchange.

I'm not really afraid, but I'm concerned about what she might encounter. There will be meetings in March and April, but we still like to hear from people who have experienced it first hand.

Thanks again, and any other posts would be beneficial, too.

Oh, according to the e-mail we just received, she will be going to Orgre (or Ogre), Latvia. Anybody know anything about this city?

magnumholmes,

We found the Rotary people to be excellent in planning the exchange. I'm guessing there were 25 or so students from our area including inbounds (foreign students in the US) and outbournd (US students prepping to go overseas). The monthly meetings allowed those not used to being away from home the chance to be sort of on their own for a day or two at a time.

They also held informational meetings with the travel agent and others to answer all parents and students questions.

In Japan my son stayed with 3 families, all Rotarians. The Japanese Rotary club providid a monthly spending allowance, a cell phone and a bike for local transportation.

In school he was able to help teach an Enlglish language class, met other exchange students and took various trips. His trips included a climb of Mt. Fuji, Hiroshima, Kyoto and a week in Korea.

Was it worthwhile? Absolutely. The hardest part was getting him to come home. Another great thing was that since he spent a whole school year at the same school he was given acedemic credit for his classes and returned to the US as a Senior, thus graduating with his less well traavelled friends.

I'll be happy to offer more info if you wish. Congrats to you and your daughter on being accepted.

sam

Hi magnumholmes, I response to your question about Ogre, Latvia I typed that in the search on Google.Com.

You may want to do the same. There are lots of websites. May I suggest you have your daughter do the same. Believe this would give you both a good overview of where she would be, what life might be like there etc.

BTW, it is Ogre not Orgre.

Have fun checking this out.