Hosting / Life in the U.S. / Student Spotlight

True or False: Single placements are lonely… Not!

Posted on by

One of the most common assumptions people make about hosting an exchange student is that only two parent households with teenagers can host a student. Far from it! In reality, our host families come in all shapes and sizes: couples, single parents, families with young kids, old kids, no kids, you name it! What all these families have in common is that they offer an incredible gift to an exchange student. By opening their home and hearts, they make it possible for their student to fulfill his or her dream of experiencing the American way of life. 

Today, we are shining the spotlight on our student, Romane from France, who is currently spending the school year in Michigan. Romane shares with us what a truly wonderful experience is has been for her to be hosted by her host mom, Aimee.

I live in Michigan with my host mom. She is single without kids, she also has 2 adorable dogs. I would like to share with you my exchange student’s experience at my host mom’s side for several months now.

Romane (left) with her host mom, Aimee, at a hockey game.

When students are waiting to know more about our host family, we usually have some expectations about them. We usually think about the “classic” family: one dad, one mom, kids, dogs and a beautiful house with a pool. I think that may represent a couple of real families in the USA, of course, but a host family is absolutely not only that. When we are making the decision to be an exchange student, we are not going to live “the American dream” like in the movies. We are going to live our own American Dream which means first of all A REAL LIFE, with school, grades, some days which are amazing and some that are pretty bad. But we are the own writers of our story.

Romane and her host dog, Hank

The most important thing about a host family is to feel good with and understand well each other. In general host families are people who are very generous and loving, because they decide to open their house and arms for a kid that they almost don’t know. I really think every host families no matter who they are, how many kids, or how rich they are, are amazing.

Romane (left) getting ready to leave for Homecoming

I can tell you more about my own experience: being placed with a single host mom. First of all in France, where I come from, I live with my both parents and my older brother. We are extremely close to each other and I love to share different stuff with each of them. When I learned I’ll live with one single host mom, to be honest, I was little bit scared. I was absolutely not sad or disappointed but kind of scared to feel alone and do not have any other teenagers to talk and hang out with. The first thing that I think today is that it is AMAZING. Literally great. Single people always have a LOT of love to give and a lot of time as well. My host mom spends time working and also with her family because even if she is single, she has parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, dogs… So finally absolutely not by herself. Life with a single person doesn’t mean they don’t have any social life, it is probably the opposite! They usually have friends, family, activities to do…

Romane (right) and her host mom, Aimee, exploring New York City

I am really enjoying life only with my host mom. I have a big room and big bathroom only for me, and also lot of attention from her. She always drives me to go to school and to go play soccer when I have games or practice. I love to be the only child for a little 🙂 If I could give advice to future exchange students it’s to stay open to discover and see new things. This experience makes us grow and shows us some differences from home. STAY OPEN-MINDED AND WRITE YOUR OWN STORY!

Would you like to welcome a student like Romane to your home and heart this upcoming school year? Check out the profiles of our amazing 2022/23 students!