[lostalex]

Have you guys ever hosted or been a foreign exchange student?

I wish my family hosted a European foreign exchange student, it sounds like an awesome experience!

I was watching this video, and i thought it was really cute and inspiring.

Youtube video

[Shaun]

We used to host them up until I was about 15 years old... some were great, and sweet (most brought over gifts which were cute) but there was the occasional wacko. I remember we had 3 Saudi kids one time who were really snobby and demanding of specific foods (like obviously we were going to cater to their religious needs, but this was like... I WANT MCDONALDS rude). Most were European, and we tried to get a tally going of every country I remember us having Italians, French, Germans, Swedes, Danish, Dutch, Belgian, Turkish, Saudi, Greek, Croat, Czech, Russian and Finnish...

Also I fondly remember playing the N64 with this Spanish guy who was like 16 (but looked older) and I was 12 or 13 and for some reason sat between his legs... yeah... I definitely didn't get a boner...

I miss it, though, but we had to stop because my parents separated and my mum couldn't house them whilst claiming benefits.

I know my hairdresser does too because she has a Chinese girl staying with her for about 8 months including over Christmas... that must be so weird. Ours were only ever 3 weeks at maximum, usually 2.

[Ammi]

..yeah, I have in the past but not for quite a few years now and they were always great experiences..I'll try to get time to watch your vid later, Alex...

[AnnieK]

My brothers foot ball team did an exchange with a German side....he was gorgeous and I didn't speak for a week as I was in awe of him. My brother went to Germany when the Berlin wall came down for his week and they went to the celebrations..

[swinearefine]

No but I went to a private school that was like 25% foreign students, mostly from China. It was great because they were all rich and confused so you could sell them ****ty weed for absurd prices.

[MTVN]

I did a French exchange when I was about 13, the actual visiting France was alright and the family were quite nice but my exchange was a dick, quickly became apparent why he had no friends so we never did anything interesting with other students

[Niamh.]

Cleaned the thread, back ontopic everyone, i left the first few posts Alex cos they were ontopic and Shaun's post is quite long so i wouldn't like to delete it

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Shaun

We used to host them up until I was about 15 years old... some were great, and sweet (most brought over gifts which were cute) but there was the occasional wacko. I remember we had 3 Saudi kids one time who were really snobby and demanding of specific foods (like obviously we were going to cater to their religious needs, but this was like... I WANT MCDONALDS rude). Most were European, and we tried to get a tally going of every country I remember us having Italians, French, Germans, Swedes, Danish, Dutch, Belgian, Turkish, Saudi, Greek, Croat, Czech, Russian and Finnish...

Also I fondly remember playing the N64 with this Spanish guy who was like 16 (but looked older) and I was 12 or 13 and for some reason sat between his legs... yeah... I definitely didn't get a boner...

I miss it, though, but we had to stop because my parents separated and my mum couldn't house them whilst claiming benefits.

I know my hairdresser does too because she has a Chinese girl staying with her for about 8 months including over Christmas... that must be so weird. Ours were only ever 3 weeks at maximum, usually 2.

I think the Chinese student will be here full time and studying here then if here for all 3 terms?

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Cleaned the thread, back ontopic everyone, i left the first few posts Alex cos they were ontopic and Shaun's post is quite long so i wouldn't like to delete it

thanks

[x-evenstar-x]

I didn't do a student exchange but I was an au pair in France for a while! It had positives and negatives to it but I only stayed for three months, I wish I had stuck it out longer.

[Chuck]

This thread makes me feel so old because it was almost 10 years ago. :"( Anyway, I was only 15 years old and at the time the idea of travelling alone and doing whatever I wanted felt so liberating (almost everything obviosly because I was under 18). My English school was amazing:

Spoiler:

and had mostly students from Russia, China, Japan or Brazil. I only lived with a family for about 8 weeks though because I wanted to party and drink every night with my fellow Russian friends so I decided to move to the school campus.

My worst memory was getting up in the morning and finding post-it notes everywhere (when I was still living with a family) saying: "Do not smoke inside the house" after I had smoked about 10 cigarettes in my bedroom the night before (Silk Cut because I wanted to feel like Bridget Jones) and feeling like they would go to the school and complain about my bad behaviour and I would be deported or something. lol

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by lostalex

thanks

no worries

[Z]

Not exactly an exchange but I lived with a German family for 3 months which was a bizarre experience that I would never put myself through again. You have this idea that you're going to go over there, live with this family for cheap rent or for free, have your dinner with them, spend time with them, essentially become a part of the family and get to know them all and when you leave you've got these friends for life and maybe you send Christmas cards and go over to visit every once in a while...

The reality was a family who wanted a lodger to live in this granny flat above their house while their daughter was on an exchange in America, they charged me 350 euros a month for a bedroom and a bathroom, I wasn't allowed in their kitchen or any part of their house, I didn't see them for weeks at a time, I asked if I could have friends over and they said that was fine and then whenever I had friends over they would leave notes on the stairs saying that I wasn't allowed to have friends over; they didn't ask for rent money until I said I was moving out and then they wanted it all up front so I had to hand over 1050 euros all at once which was horrific... they weren't even horrible people per se, it was just really awkward and they didn't make any attempt to make me feel welcome, they lived so far out of the city centre that it was like they were in the next town along and I had to either walk>train>tram>walk or walk>tram>tram>walk to get to work in the morning - they never once offered to give me a lift even though their son went to the school I worked at...

Meh. I'd never do it again. I'm sure my story is a rare one and that most people relish their time with a host family but it was absolutely horrendous and really ruined the first half of my year abroad and didn't really set me up for the "best year of my life so far" as people liked to claim it would be.

Having said that, I would host a foreign exchange student if I was asked; seeing as I know what was wrong with my host family's approach, I would know how to handle the situation properly.