The days, weeks, and months have flown by and now it’s very close to the arrival of your exchange student! Yay! The anticipation has everyone in excited and scared and all of the feels. Now, are you ready? Like…wait…what am I supposed to do?!
Here are some ideas on how to prepare your home for new family member:
1) If you have kids: talk to them! Explain to them that it will be an adjustment for everyone, and that your student might need some quiet alone time to process all their adjustments. For example: the sudden all day, every day, English can cause physical symptoms such as exhaustion and headaches, so give them some space to let their brains calm down.
2) Talk with your spouse about your wants out of this exchange and how you expect your student to behave, what chores to do, and so forth. Write these things down: especially the rules. (there will be another post about rules and expectations)
3) Prepare their room. Get it nice and clean with fresh bedding (with my animals I always wait for this step till the day before and then close the door). Fix anything broken, clean out drawers/closets, and decorate it if you wish. We have decorations up but tell each student that we can take some down and put their things up if they want to.
4) Make a “Welcome Basket”. We include snacks that are popular in America and specific ones that are from our region (like Cheerwine—cherry soda, that comes from NC). We also include a usb US plug (for their phones), a key chain from NC with a house key (technically they get this a week or so after they have been here), and a few other things that are helpful during the year. Oh and an American flag (a small one).
5) “Welcome sign”, make one for the airport. With their name. They appreciate the thoughtfulness and it helps them spot you. Make sure your student has all you contact information (they probably already do at this point) in case something happens in transit. Also have them list your address on any checked luggage, that way if it gets lost it comes to you.
6) The night before wish them safe travels and relax before the exciting chaos.
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