Host Family Three Years Running

By The Collins Family

Three years ago, I responded to an ad asking for host families for foreign exchange students. I didn't know what it was all about, but decided to send an email to get more information. I received an e-mail from Peg, the local coordinator, and soon she came out to talk to us about hosting a student. It sounded like a wonderful adventure, and Thomas and I agreed to host a student. Our first student was an 18-year-old from the Czech Republic, named Max.

Max brought a new air of excitement to our house, and it was such a fun year full of new adventures. As Max's year ended, Peg asked us if we would host again. Our first thought was, "We had such a great year with Max. What are the chances we'll have another great year with someone else?" We agreed, and the following year we had Vini, a 16-year-old from Germany, living in our house.

Vini brought an entirely new air of excitement. His interests were very different than Max's, and we did entirely different things with Vini than we had done previously with Max. Our travels and our activities were different with Vini than they were with Max. We had a wonderful surprise that Christmas when Max returned to the U.S. to visit his friends and stopped to visit us as well. We had a small celebration with Max and Vini together under the same roof.

Peg didn't have to call us to ask if we wanted to host again. We started calling her in excitement, wanting to know when the new student profiles came out. We were ready to pick our next student, and there was no question about whether we were going to host again. This year is our third year hosting, and we have Daniel, a 17-year-old German, living with us. We have done so much this year with Daniel, whose interests are very different from the interests of the other two kids that we had. This year has been full of fun and exciting activities such as visiting Philadelphia, going to the beach, and going to Hershey Chocolate World.

Overall, we get a sense of excitement and adventure with each new student we host. I have often said that as soon as I have it figured out, I get a new kid and the rules change. It takes a while for them to open up sometimes and for us to figure out their particular interests; but once we do, the year takes off on an overwhelming carpet ride of an adventure!