My aunt and uncle hosted an exchange student from China.

He was a bit of an awkward weirdo, I kind of got the impression he was somewhat wealthy, seemed nice enough, just weird, and didn’t seem to have much interest in experiencing anything American except for buying clothes and such that I guess we’re more expensive in China.

After a few months, they noticed their cat walking funny and got him checked out, and found what looked like burns on his paws, and they weren’t sure how it happened.

They checked their security cameras, and saw the exchange student holding the cat to the hot stove.

Sent him packing really quick.

My wife’s family had a Japanese exchange student when she was a teenager. They sent her packing after seeing her kick their dog.

My elementary school once brought exchange students from Australia. They did short presentations about their culture, and spent the rest of the month in the library with a teacher that came with them. They never really talked with us or anything.

One of my best friends in high school was a Norwegian exchange student. He was easygoing and smart and we rode the bus together because his host family lived nearby. Some of the funniest conversations of my life happened on those bus rides.

When he went back to Norway we lost touch. I think it must have been difficult for him to be here—the isolation, the culture shock, the language barrier, I can only imagine. Maybe it was a relief to leave our little town in the rearview mirror. But I’m forever glad I met him.

A friend hosted one when we were 17 or 18. He was from the USA and had never had beer before. One of these nights he hid under a parking car when he saw a police car approaching. Fun times.

I went on a school exchange to Hangzhou China back in 2008. It was quite an amazing experience for me. I had never been outside central Europe before so there was definitely some culture shock, especially with the food. Became good friends with my exchange partner, who then visited my school in Germany a few months later.

My high school had a pretty big exchange program (up until COVID) mainly from China, Vietnam, and Spain, and I hung out with them all the time after school, and some of them even more 😅. Very pleasant experience getting to know about them and where they came from, and it was always super fun and interesting to see how they would react or approach American customs or even that of the other exchange students.

Was super bummed out when COVID disrupted that.

My oldest is on a Synchronized Figure Skating team and two seasons ago a girl from Italy joined the team. She was a great. Awesome skater and added so much to the team. They actually made it to Nationals that year.

My funniest memory of her, was driving the car pool to a team practice. Just as we’re about to get up on the highway, a very large firetruck came into the intersection. Honestly, it was the largest firetruck I had ever seen.

Her reaction was hysterical…

“OH MY such a big truck. So American!”

Thought she had summed up nicely, America’s insane infatuation around overly large vehicles.

We were all very sad to see her go back to Italy.

I did it three times and loved each time. Best time was in Tokyo for a year at a great school. Changed my life, religion, and path

Finnish student at my colorado high-school. He was one of the only kids in the school who smoked cigarettes, would want a break all the time. Also didn’t have much of an accent at all, said he was practicing English since kindergarten.

I had several classes in high school with an exchange student from Germany. She was pretty much like any other kid; except everyone would bug her to know how to say various things in German.

Yes, it was fun. It was with one of the places on the sister city program. You really had to watch your step though.