Hosting an exchange student can turn a house into a home, and Nicole from Arizona knows this firsthand! Community Manager Nicole and her family welcomed Elsa from Sweden, and from day one, Elsa became part of the family. Even after returning to Sweden, Elsa comes back to visit for holidays and special occasions, keeping the connection alive. Nicole’s experience shows that hosting is not just about welcoming a student, it’s about gaining a new family member and creating memories that last a lifetime.
We host an exchange student every year, and we were very excited to host a student from Sweden since we had never hosted from Sweden before. Her profile seemed to fit perfectly with our family, and she was a Swiftie too. Elsa was an excellent student, one of the most active and driven we have ever met. She was very involved with student council, played sports, served as a team manager for various other sports, participated in every school event, and made a ton of American friends throughout the year.
She was a great big sister to our 13-year-old daughter, and even though she was incredibly busy, she still made time for us and created core memories like going to the Eras Tour and riding the Polar Express train in Williams, Arizona. At school, she met a friend named Bella, and they were always together, including swimming, watching TV shows, and going camping several times.
After Elsa returned to Sweden, she came back in December 2024 to spend Christmas with Bella and again in October 2025 for Halloween. Both times she spent a day with us at our house, playing games, catching up, telling stories, and reminiscing. It has been so great to keep in touch with her family and know that we will always have a daughter in Sweden. Bella also traveled to Sweden for Elsa’s high school graduation last summer and joined her family for the midsummer celebration. Elsa’s family hosted an exchange student from the U.S. because they wanted to give a student the same opportunity, so she was there for Elsa’s graduation and Bella’s visit.
It has been a great adventure filled with wonderful memories, with hopefully many more to come. My advice for future host families is to use family time to ask questions, share stories about your family, ask about theirs, talk about fun memories, ask open-ended questions to get to know your student, be patient, communicate, and take lots of pictures because even though the days feel long, the year flies by!
Are you interested in making a student like Elsa a part of your family? We are looking for American host families to welcome a student for the upcoming 2026-27 school year. Check out the profiles of our wonderful students. New student profiles go online every Thursday!
