| Sharing Our Home and Our Love....NBC15 Blog Listing | |||||
|
Recent Blog Topics
|
||||
Save
Email
Print
|
My wife and I are in our mid to late 40s, but that won't stop us from making our family larger by mid August. Enrica Pastore, a sixteen year old Italian girl from Milan, will arrive as an exchange student in just a few months as we become a host family for about 300 days. We still have one or two official hoops to jump, but we have been corresponding with Enrica for a week or two and everyone seems very excited....especially our eleven year old daughter, Gabriella. Gaby wanted a sibling and we wanted to help someone experience our great culture in America by opening our home, our lives and our hearts. Even with some current troubles, we are truly blessed to have what we have and to have what is offered to us in these United States. It will be an interesting time as Miss Pastore gradually prepares to leave home for a year, and we make arrangements to immediately have a teenager from another land squeeze into the nest. Hopefully with faith, hope, happiness and plenty of give and take we can all spread our wings to soar toward great memories that will last always. David If you have even been an exchange student, known one or have been a host family please blog back and give me encouragement! |
| Post Your Comments |
|
|
| Read Comments |
|
Posted by: Linda Marks Location: neighbor to you
My thought is- You give and you get!!! I believe that you will "give" her so much while she is here and you will "get" even more while she's here and when she goes back home. Congrats to your family on this great experience and to Enrica as well. Posted by: Ted Location: Janesville David, Out of all of the so called "P.C" folks in this area (Madison) I can't believe there are not more comments on this. Again I say good for you and enjoy the year. Posted by: Phyllis Location: Darlington We have been involved in exchange students for over 39 years, as a teacher/adviser, host parents etc. For the most part, it has been wonderful. We are leaving June 15 to visit a student we hosted at age 56 and one who was in D'ton over 30 years ago. We toured Japan with former students. We hosted Tobias from Germany when our children were gone and he was so interested in so many things so it was a perfect match. Talk, talk, and then talk some more to keep those lines of communication open. The only hard thing is that sometime you need to have a little spat with your own family and that is sometimes a little difficult. They sometimes have a hard time being in a smaller community. If you need a reprieve, contact us and we can plan an activity with her. Enjoy your time!!! Posted by: Ted Location: Janesvile A good friend of ours has done this for years. They are an early 30's couple and live the full life as they stay as part of the family. Always going on spring vacations and it stays with them a lifetime. Several of the girls have asked years later if they could come back for a week in the summer even. One got married here several years later to a young man she dated at school. My wife and I have met most of them and I'll tell you, you and your friends will learn as much as she does. Good luck and enjoy it. Posted by: Cindy Location: Blue Mounds I can relate to this on two levels. My husband's family was an AFS host family to a student from Sweden in the late 1970's. Olof is still referred to as their Swedish brother and they correspond regularly. Olof has visited all of the extended family in the US, and my in-laws have visited Olof in Sweden. There is a strong bond there. I can also relate on the flip side in some ways as well. While my now 13 year old is too young for the AFS program, she spent 21 days in Italy and Greece as a student ambassador for People to People, which was started by Pres. Eisenhower. It was hard to let her go, but the group has an excellent program and she had the experiences of a lifetime. She saw the Colosseum, Pompeii, mad pizza in Sicily and went to Zeus Cave and the Parthenon in Greece. She also did several service projects while there as well. It opened her eyes to the world beyond WI, and your Italian exchange student will forever appreciate her time with your family. Best Wishes! |
 |
Weather Authority
Watch your local weather 24/7. |
 |
|
 |
News Links
Looking for something you saw on NBC 15? Find it here. |
|
|
 |
Double Dollar Deals
Experience our area's best restaurants at a Half-Off price. |
|
|
 |
Golf Double Dollar Deals
Experience our area's best golf courses at a Half-Off price. |
|
|
 |
Family Double Dollar Deals
Experience our area's best businesses at a Half-Off price. |
|
|
 |
What's On?
Click here to see our program guide. |
|
|
 |
Perfect Home
Find out how to make your perfect home. |
|
|
 |
The Health Professional
Find answers to your health questions. |
|
|
 |
Madison's Biggest Loser
Click here! Find out how you can sign up and change your life! |
|
|
