Awaiting Their Arrival

I cannot believe that in a matter of a week and half, my exchange student from China will be coming to my home in America. It seems so surreal and something that I am so thankful to be apart of. I remember my trip to China, and it is a trip I will never forget, and I hope my new exchange student won’t forget his trip to America.  

I am so excited to welcome my exchange student to my home, our school, and let him become immersed in our culture. I cannot wait to introduce my exchange student to all of my teachers and friends, and really allow him to engulf himself in our community. For me, going to China and realizing how different the culture was between our community and 西安 was such an eye opening experience, and I wonder if my exchange student will feel the same way.

Although I am so excited for him to come into our community, I am also a bit nervous. I want to give him the best trip possible, and I have so much stress, thinking of fun things we can do together. I don’t even have anything planned… should I go ice skating with him, play tennis, watch a movie… if only I took more time to plan things out.

I have had people ask me if I have met this boy before, and I said no. The follow up question is always, well didn’t you meet him when you were in China? The school in China has a student body that is around 5,000 students in just the local school, not to mention the international school, as well as the specialized schools that they offer. In addition, their school campus is similar to the size of a college campus, it is remarkable. I would find it pretty funny if my exchange student started laughing at the size of our school. To him, our school is pretty much the size of the educational building at their school.

Traveling to another country is always an adventurous and fun experience. When my exchange student travels to America, my number one goal for the week is to make sure he is comfortable and wants to be here. In China, I often found that I would become more comfortable when my exchange student spoke to me in English, letting me in on the conversations that him and either his family or friends were having. That is exactly what I am going to do when he comes here. I want to make sure that he never feels left out so when he returns home, he will remember what an amazing trip he had.

Overall, I am really excited for this experience, and cannot wait to meet him. Traveling to another country is always an amazing opportunity. I hope that his journey is well worth his while and that I can make his adventure to America a blast.

 

There are 6 comments

  1. April Song

    相识、期待、相见、离别、等待下一次的重逢,这份友谊是如此的难得可贵。
    希望不久的将来,你和你的交换学生可以再相聚。

  2. Serin Ahn

    I really like the attitude and mindset you have regarding of how to treat your friend from China. He must be very happy having a friend like you. I came to this country 3 years ago. Because of my past experience, I know what it feels like to be unintentionally isolated in a friend group by a language barrier.

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