My Gift to You—A Free Ebook: “International Students—Inviting the World Into Your Home”
In the first part of this interview with Liisa and Joe, “What is it Like to Be a Foreign Exchange Student?”, we got an insider’s view of Liisa’s own experience as a German foreign exchange student in the U.S. 20 years ago. As a young 17-year-old teenage girl, her life changed forever during her study abroad year when she met her future American husband, Joe.
Liisa’s mother was also an international student which greatly influenced her daughter’s desire and decision to study abroad. Liisa’s positive, personal experience as an international student would eventually lead her, her husband, and their two girls to invite foreign exchange students into their own home.
In Part 2 of this interview, we will see how Liisa and Joe prepared to host their most recent foreign exchange student from Italy.
Let’s follow their family’s journey as they “Weave Cultures”!
The Journey Begins
The Cultural Story-Weaver: We know that Liisa’s personal experience as a foreign exchange student greatly influenced your family’s decision to open your own home to international students. Joe, would you say this is where your family’s journey began?
Joe: Yes, Liisa came to America back in 1998 with an exchange student program called CHI—Cultural Homestay International. She speaks highly of this organization, and this is where the process began . . . with her experiences many years ago. It amazes me how God makes things happen in our lives. At times, they don’t make sense until we are able to look back on those moments many years later.
The Cultural Story-Weaver: Did your host family experience begin with your most recent international student from Italy?
Joe: Liisa and I actually hosted three exchange students prior to our most recent Italian host daughter. We lived in Denver, Colorado and hosted a student from Germany, one from China, and another from France. These three students stayed with us on very short-term programs.
Short-Term to Long-Term
Liisa: We hosted students for two weeks, three weeks, and summers with different programs. We were then ready to embark on hosting for six months or a year with CHI—Cultural Homestay International, the same organization that I had come through as a student.
Joe: Throughout the years, we desired taking the next step of hosting for a much longer duration. When we moved back to Pennsylvania, after a whole lot of trial and perseverance, we were finally able to say “yes” to hosting an exchange student long-term.
The Cultural Story-Weaver: How did you get started with the process?
Liisa:I contacted the person who was my coordinator when I was an exchange student and asked her if she was still involved. Twenty years later, she was still involved with the same organization, CHI. To me, that was a great testimony. We decided to host through them.
She sent us an application process package. We filled it all out and took pictures of our family and our home. We answered questions about our family routines, things we did as a family, and what we would do to make a student feel welcome.
The person that I had been in touch with came and did a home visit. They did a background check on my husband and myself. If we had anybody else over the age of 18 living in the house, then they would’ve done a background check on them as well.
Check out our free download, “How to Host an International Student.”
Unforeseen Circumstances
The Cultural Story-Weaver: How long did the process take to find your most recent student from Italy, and what was that process like?
Joe: Well, for us, it went rather quickly, but yet, so very stressful. We were renting an apartment and were in the midst of purchasing a new house.
We met with a CHI coordinator, and she provided us a list of exchange students to choose from. We—all four of us—chose a student, and we thought all was good. Then, our house deal fell down the drain. We felt deeply, that without a house, we would not be able to do this exchange “thing” properly. So we said “no.”
One week later, after a disheartening “no” to our house purchase offer, came a lively “yes” to the house. We were ecstatic, and we felt completely ready to host that exchange student. But, wouldn’t you know, it was no longer possible to host the student we had selected. We believe that everything happens for reasons we will never fully understand. God had something else planned.
The Selection Process
The Cultural Story-Weaver: Wow, that had to have been disappointing for your family. When you had the opportunity to select another student, did you get to pick your student?
Joe: We did get to pick our student. It felt a bit rushed, but with our current situation, it worked out for the best. We just went with it and jumped in at the deep end of the pool.
We were provided a list of students to choose from, and that was the toughest part, because each student comes with a lengthy application full of information about themselves. We chose a student that we thought would work best with our family dynamics.
Liisa: We were able to look at different applications for students that were still looking for families. We wanted a girl, because we are sort of an “all girl” household—except for Joe. Some families may already have boys and girls in the house, and the student’s gender doesn’t matter to them. Others may have all boys, for example, and they want to know what it’s like to have a girl.
We wanted to start slow and see how our two girls would handle it. Also, we wanted to see what it was like to have a teenager in our home. We had never had a teenager before. Our children were eight and eleven, so that certainly was a big change in our routine. Five months seemed like a good commitment.
Preparing for the Big Day
The Cultural Story-Weaver: How did you prepare for your foreign exchange student from Italy? Did you have a chance to Skype or meet her before she arrived?
Joe: Well, that was a very interesting stage in the process, since we had just bought a house. Everything seemed to be in a state of chaos. But from what our coordinator told us, chaos is a part of life. That makes it real for the student. She entered into our crazy family life at just the right time.
We were able to Skype with our student before she arrived. That was a bit odd and interesting, all at once, but also very exciting. This part of the process made it feel even more real. This was gonna happen. The time had come for us to open our home and share our life with a human being from a whole other country and culture, from many thousands of miles across the planet.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of the interview when Liisa and Joe’s student arrives from Italy!
My Gift to You—A Free Ebook: “International Students—Inviting the World Into Your Home”
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
Let’s Weave Cultures!
Perhaps you have already hosted a foreign exchange student in your home. If so, tell us about it!
Maybe you would love to host a foreign exchange student and don’t know where to begin?
Check out our free download, “How to Host an International Student.”
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
God love the exchange student host! Exchange students were my salvation in high school. They offered a window to a world that I would have never had in the Midwest. Not knocking the Midwest, but we weren’t exposed to much otherness. Because there wasn’t a lot of diversity where I grew up, it was a perfect place for a foreign exchange student. Because they were a curiosity there, I think they probably got much more attention than they would have if they had been in a more multi-cultural place.
A shout out to my good friends who provided so much entertainment and education during high school–Yanne (Finland), Gisela (Germany), Etchi (Brazil), Kathy (France), Bettina (Austria), Claudia (Switzerland), Maarit (Sweden), Ana (Sweden), and my dear, dear but departed friend Sandra (Ecuador), and many, many more that I met at the AFS parties in the Kansas City area. I recommend AFS if they are still around.
Wow! It’s amazing how many different “lands” you were exposed to in high school. You can still remember each of their names and homelands—proof that they greatly impacted you. Would you attribute that exposure and experience to your love for other cultures and now your career of teaching ESL to those from foreign lands? Yes, AFS is still around. My sister went to Greece as a high school foreign exchange student with them. Highly recommended!