How awesome that some of you are considering exposing your children to such an experience! When my daughter was about 15, I talked to her about sending her to Spain for a Summer. She was adamantly opposed and I didn’t want to force her. However, after her 16th birthday, she chose to go to Peru by herself for a couple of weeks to visit her great-grandma. She felt comfortable as she knew Peru; I have been taking her there since she was a toddler. I think for her this experience was even better than previous ones, as she didn’t have me “hovering” over her at every moment. She absorbed everything Peruvian – she took Afro-Peruvian dance classes every day, tried all kinds of delectable Peruvian food, bought back bagfuls of Peruvian candy and lots of Indian jewelry. She even dared – to my horror – to jump off of a cliff over the Pacific Ocean flying tandem on a parasail. (I wanted to kill my uncle, who told me of this adventure after the fact. But I guess that was the point of it all, to let her experience things on her own). At 20, she is now planning to study abroad for a semester while she is still in college. I’m thrilled for her and I will do everything in my power to help her, as I know first-hand this is an experience she will never forget.

I was never an exchange student, (though I wanted to be badly!) – but I was known for being first to befriend any exchange student who arrived at our school. Being on the other side of the equation, I know how very special those friendships are and I loved this post.

Though I didn’t get to study abroad myself, this is something I’d like to consider for my children, (or one day, when I get Suegra out of the house and have an extra bedroom, maybe we could be a host family!) … Thanks for sharing this – I hope it encourages others to give it a try.