# Hosting a foreign exchange student?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999 "2011-05-15T16:07:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![beenthere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@beenthere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beenthere)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999/1 "2011-05-15T16:07:44Z")

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Has anyone out there hosted a foreign exchange student, and how did the experience go? We had a rough ending, and would love to discuss it with you.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999/2 "2011-05-15T16:17:35Z")

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This question is more appropriate for IMHO than ATMB.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999/3 "2011-05-15T17:38:41Z")

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We had two. One was not happy to be with us as she wanted to be in a house with another exchange student and eventually did so. In retrospect, it was a mistake. We did not have kids at that point and had a very adult-oriented life. The second experience was completely different. We had a 3 year old so the student had someone to goof around with without the language barrier being an issue. We sat around and played Sorry at night and had more of a family experience. It ended up being a great experience for everyone.

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**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999/4 "2011-05-15T17:42:07Z")

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Well, my mom’s an English teacher so she was quite big on those kinds of things. So, both my brother and I had exchange students. The one my brother had, our two families are still in close contact more than twenty years later.

ETA: of course, I forgot to mention, I also was an exchange student myself, with several families. Sometimes there wasnt even an exchange family to family but more taking part in a “let’s welcome a foreign student for one month” program.

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-a-foreign-exchange-student/581999/5 "2011-05-15T18:30:14Z")

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here are some [previous threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=6569732) about exchange students