Collage of 3 students Our 3-year adventure cultivating a global extended family So what is it like to have teenage foreign exchange students living in your house that can’t communicate well, want new experiences and are completely dependent on you? Turns out, not much different from your own teenagers. Between 2003 and 2006 our family hosted 3 consecutive students in our home. What began as a “that seems like an interesting thing to do” grew into a global family and big love.
CAN WE TALK? English takes on a new meaning 2. Meaningful communication some words and concepts simply won’t or can’t translate into understanding.
Can we talk? What the hell is Feta?
Food is love New Family Traditions traditions are important and valuable. 1. the making of and eating of food is the best place to start. They cooked for us, we cooked for them, and we cooked together learning from each other.
Food is love
Getting social
Getting social More reasons to throw parties. And that having friends is a good thing.
Navigating trouble We learned that we shouldn’t behave badly, because it hurts too much the next day.
American Pie stereotypes do exist and we should keep an open mind and open communication to understand the other persons point of view. Story about Suzy’s thoughts on how her stay here would mimic the movie “American Pie”
Personal Growth Other Stereotypes are reinforced. Like finding a date and going to Prom. Pic or aura and betta at prom
Personal Growth They will make you laugh more than you ever expected
Special Occasions Holidays are amped up.3. humor, a smile or a good belly laugh is sometimes all you need.
Special Occasions Aura was our first student, so we were unsure of what to do. She carried a dictionary around always. Aura spoke English well and got much better by the end of her stay. She was the most studious and serious about understanding, speaking and writing in English. Aura enjoyed learning and sharing her love of Colombia with others.
Facebook can keep us communicating, even long distance. We can practice our social and language skills.
We are family
love is the answer. What are they doing now? Aura - Aura works at atop pharmaceutical companies in Colombia She is a marketing assi stant. She is planning to start her MBA in October 2012. She wants to study at LBS (London Business School), or IESE (in Barcelona), or both. she misses her host family and hopes to see them very soon...soon, like summer 2011. Bettina - i have started to do a volunteering job: i read books for blind people and i record them on a CD that they can listen. Of the future?: i try to travel as much as i can, but my dream is to open a "rural house" ("agriturismo" in italian) where i could raise my children in an healthy place, far from the big cities, Vera just started studying philosophy at the university of Zurich. She is going to Africa for 4 months to work on a social project in Zanzibar for her French teacher..
