When I was in Jr. High, my parents hosted a Brazilian exchange student for the school year. His name is Ricardo (Rico) and he became very popular at the school (he went to the same school I did...he was in 9th grade, I was in 8th). Luckily for me, he was very good-looking and all the girls were "jealous" that he lived with me...lol! :bgrin He did have a GF while here and went to the dances with her. He was also on the swim team. Our family kept in touch with him thru the years and he came back to visit once with his parents, but somewhere along the way about 10 yrs ago, he "disappeared". We have tried to find him thru family, phone calls and the internet...all unsuccessfully! :no: It's a real mystery that I want to figure out someday, because I always considered him like a brother.
I also became an exchange student in 11th grade, thru my high school's German class. We paired up with a German HS and there were 17 of us that went. We stayed for 1 month and then our "partner" came to stay with us in the US for 1 month. My host family was courteous to me, but was frustrated that my German wasn't as fluent as they would have liked, because altho they spoke English, they wanted me to speak only German while there. I didnt get to know them very well, since I was almost never around. My parents were embarrassing while my partner (Mark) was here...As a group, we wanted to go out all the time (like we did in Germany) and my parents felt that he should spend more time with the family...it became a problem and I was mortified! :new_shocked: What could've been a really good, lasting friendship ended when the experience for Mark went bad.
I think the experience was different in that with me, we went as a group (so with our partners there was 34 of us), so we spent a lot of time together doing things, whereas most exchange students go as individuals (and also stay longer than a month), so they have time to spend actually living as a family with their hosts.
I hope your experience as a host family is a good one. I always wanted to host a student, but being a single mom, I felt like I couldnt give them an experience they would have enjoyed...sightseeing, etc.
Remember that there will be culture shock on both ends, but if you are both easy going about things, it ends up being funny and you'll laugh about it! :bgrin