Every year, foreign exchange students move across the world to learn about and immerse themselves in a new lifestyle. While this change may be a difficult adjustment for the students themselves, it is also a big change for the families that they are living with for the year.
This past summer, junior Carly Lenhart and her family took on the task of becoming a host family to a foreign exchange student from Italy named Chiara Defranceschi.
Growing up, there was never a time when Carly’s parents didn’t have exchange students in their home, and this experience of having another sibling was one that her parents wanted Carly to experience as she entered her third year of high school.
“My parents, when they were younger, always had foreign exchange students in and out of their house and I always thought that it would be cool to have one,” Carly said. “We wanted one for a long time, and before COVID we were going to do it a little earlier, but since COVID hit it didn’t really happen [until now].”
Although becoming a host family has been exciting for Carly, she has found there to be some challenges along the way as she and Chiara learn to adjust to life as sisters—one of the biggest challenges being the language barrier.
“It’s just like having a sister. I get to learn about her culture, try new things, and show her our culture here”
— Carly Lenhart
Even though they are both now able to communicate with one another, there were some initial difficulties when it came to the rhythm of speaking in America. There were times when Carly would find herself speaking at a speed that Chiara could not fully process all at once, which made it challenging for the two of them to understand each other.
“[Chiara] was still trying to learn our rhythm of speaking; [it] was kind of hard for her to pick up on,” Carly said. “It was a little hard for us to connect, but once I told her what stuff meant I felt like we instantly clicked.”
After Carly figured out a way for Chiara to better understand her, she started to feel more and more like she had another sister and had made a close bond with Chiara. They have gotten closer as they have been playing sports together since the fall, and plan to continue this shared participation in the spring, but some of their most cherished times are the ones they spend together, in the kitchen, cooking meals.
“We love to cook together,” Carly said. “[We cook] spicy ramen, she cooks me her family recipes [like] lasagna, and sometimes my mom will put us on dinner duty and we’ll have to cook dinner for the family.”
Hosting a foreign exchange student has allowed Carly to not only immerse herself in a new culture through things like new foods and language, but it has given her the chance to teach her own culture to someone else.
With Carly being a junior in high school, she has had her fair share of high school experiences which allows her to truly show Chiara what life is like attending an average American high school.
“I feel like junior year is the perfect time to host [a foreign exchange student],” Carly said. “You know the high school and a lot of people from the school. It’s not your last year, so if, for say, you didn’t get along with your foreign exchange student, it wouldn’t ruin your last year.”
Luckily for Carly, she has had no trouble connecting and getting along with Chiara. The bond that they have made is one that they will hold on to long after the exchange year is over. They even plan to see each other this summer, as Carly is hoping to spend part of it visiting Chiara in Italy.
“It’s just like having a sister,” Carly said. “I get to learn about her culture, try new things, and show her our culture here, and we are hoping to keep in touch after this year.”
