Our family made the choice to host a foreign exchange student for the 2017-2018 school year. We completed all of the necessary documents, created a family profile and had a hard time picking out what student we would like to share our home with. We finally chose a wonderful young lady from Barcelona and, once approved, we made contact prior to her arrival. It was exciting having the opportunity to get to know her, her family, and her reasons for wanting to study abroad over Skype. It felt like forever as we waited for her to arrive. T
he last-minute prepping of our home, trying to ensure everything was just right, the purchasing of a welcome to our family gift, writing a rules and expectations book, and making a “Welcome” sign was so exciting. The anticipation of her arrival was palpable. Finally, the day arrived that she was flying in and we anxiously waited at the airport with butterflies in our tummies and smiles on our faces. When we finally saw her walking our way she was nervously grinning from ear to ear. Having had the opportunity to have several conversations with her before her arrival made it easy for us to quickly embrace her and try our hardest to not make her feel more nervous, awkward, and overwhelmed than she already did.
The first few days were a whirlwind of getting her sleep schedule adjusted, touring her new school, trying new foods and meeting classmates, family, and friends. As the days turned into weeks and then months and we really got to know her likes and dislikes and who she really was, we knew we wanted to make her stay with us as memorable as we possibly could. We exposed her to our culture by taking her to do fun things such as high school Friday night football, Reds baseball game, Cavs basketball game, Amish Country, Cedar Point Amusement Park, New York City for New Years Eve, and a trip to Cancun Mexico. While we did have boring days at home, we experienced getting to know our culture through her eyes. We were quickly reminded how much we take for granted.
Seeing our world through her and watching her eyes light up at simple things made this experience well worth it for our family. Our family got extremely close with our “bonus daughter” and we knew how much she cared when our biological daughter became deathly ill and was admitted into Children’s Hospital for 3 weeks on a ventilator. Our bonus daughter was amazing during this time and so helpful by being so strong. The bond you create with these young adults is amazing. They truly do become a part of your family, as if they were meant to be there from the beginning of time. In a few short weeks we will be putting our daughter on a plane to send her home to her family. It is a day that I’m sure will be emotional for us all and we will end her trip the way it started, with butterflies in our tummies and smiles (and tears) on our faces.
I have no doubt that we will always remain in contact with our bonus daughter and can only hope that as she heads home we provided her with memories to last a lifetime, as that is what I know she provided for our family.
