Where in the world IS this??  It’s SPAIN!!! 🙂

The above picture is the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country.

There’s so much to love about Spain, it’s easy to see how this unique country has climbed to the TOP in world tourism! In fact, Spain receives more than 55 million visitors each year — and that’s more than 10 million more people than the country’s entire population! (Wow!) 

What is there to LOVE about Spain? Virtually EVERYTHING!

Landscape

From mountainous plateaus to majestic island seasides, Spain’s landscape is among the most beautiful in the world. As the largest country in Southern Europe, the mainland is covered in high plateaus and mountain chains, but it also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Wine

Care for a glass? Spain is one of the world’s largest producers of wine, thus grape growing is of considerable importance and a large part of their agricultural market!

Clean Energy

Luis Miguel Bugallo SánchezEnergy Innovation

Did you know that Spain is one of the world’s leading countries in the development and production of renewable energy?  In 2010 Spain became the solar power world leader when it overtook the United States with a massive power station plant called La Florida, near Alvarado, Badajoz. Spain is also Europe’s main producer of wind energy! 

Amazing FOOD

Manuel M. Vicente, 27-March-2004

Spanish food is a kaleidoscope of colorful dishes reflecting variations in geography, culture, and climate. Seafood is abundant, since it’s readily available from the many surrounding waters, reflecting the country’s deep Mediterranean roots.  Popular dishes include pescaíto frito (fried fish); several cold soups like gazpacho; and many rice-based dishes like paella and arròs negre (black rice).

Music and Arts

Gilles Larrain, 13 May 2005Music and Arts!

Spanish music is often considered abroad to be synonymous with flamenco, a West Andalusian musical genre, which, contrary to popular belief, is not widespread outside that region!

Various other regional styles of folk music abound in Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile, the Basque Country, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias.

Pop, rock, hip hop and heavy metal are also popular.

Spectacular Sites

Though you’ll never run out of attractions to choose from in Spain,  here’s just a sampling: two destinations that are just as unique as they are exemplary!

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

L’Hemisfèric (right) is an IMAX Cinema, planetarium and laserium. The building was designed to resemble a giant eye. The Hemesferic, also known as the planetarium or the “eye of knowledge,” is the centerpiece of the City of Arts and Sciences.

The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (below) is an astronomical observatory located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. This is the second-best location for optical and infrared astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere!

Ready to Pack Your Bags?

Wouldn’t it be amazing to take your family to Spain? You’d enjoy the culture, food, sites and gain a sense of wonder and adventure! You would undoubtedly create memories that would last a lifetime! 

“Ok!” you say! “I’m ready to go!!! But wait….I CAN’T pack up and go just yet….because Jeremy just made the travel league with soccer, Johna’s in the state championship next month, I volunteered to run vacation Bible school this year, and the kitchen remodel is eating up ALL our extra funds this year… SO, it looks like a trip to Spain just isn’t in our reality!”

But WAIT! What if there were another option??? What if you could…

Bring Spain to YOU!

Did you know you CAN bring Spanish culture right to your doorstep? (You’re skeptical?? It’s true!)

Host an iE Spanish student for a year and let them bring their culture to you! You’ll love getting to see your daily life through “new eyes” while sharing all there is to love about America.

THEN, once your schedule and budget align and a trip does become possible, you’ll have a new “family” to visit in Spain! See Spain through their eyes. Become immersed in the REAL Spanish culture, not just the tourist production! Doesn’t that sound amazing? 

Our local coordinators will work with you to select a perfect student from Spain who fits your family’s lifestyle.  Visiting a country is miles away from living in that country – and our students want to experience REAL LIFE with YOU!

Interested? Contact us!

We would love to share more about this awesome experience!

 usa@international-experience.net | ie-usa.org 

Montenegrin legend Nives Bakic has a zest for life, travel, and inspiring others to live their dreams! As an English teacher AND iE’s Montenegrin agent, she worked tirelessly supporting those students who dared to dream beyond their own backyard.  She now lives in the United States and is just as supportive of student exchange as ever! 

Last month, Nives was able to visit two previous exchange students (sisters!) who have since settled in Arizona! We’ll share Dajana’s story below. Her year in the U.S. as an exchange student truly changed the course of her life! Beautiful!

THIS is Dajana’s story, in her words, because we couldn’t possibly say it any better:

About 9 years ago when I was only 15 years old I was sitting in the classroom in Sutomore, Montenegro and this woman was my English teacher. I won’t ever forget that moment as it changed my life. So, she was asking questions about English grammar and the use of the tenses, and I kept answering all of them correctly to what she said “you need to go to United States. This isn’t the place for you.”

I remember feeling so much happiness that she believed that I could live in the United States. I mean I was only 15 so the life in the USA was only a dream. She took initiative and talked my dad into sending me to the US at the ripe age of 16 to become a foreign exchange student.

It’s been wonderful, amazing, beautiful, challenging and hard without family 8 years but I couldn’t imagine having it any other way. Now fast forward to March 2017 and we are eating dinner in Old Town Scottsdale, AZ and reminiscing on these amazing memories!

Can you believe that ONE decision so drastically changed Dajana’s life trajectory?

It’s amazing to think of all the PEOPLE who supported Dajana to make this leap of faith possible: her parents, her English teacher Nives, her host family, and her local coordinator! All these support people came together like a magnificent puzzle to lift Dajana into her dream year as an exchange student, which gave her the footing to pursue a LIFE here!

Would you consider supporting a student’s dreams? Who knows what may come of such a gift!

>>> Gotcha! <<<

Haha! April Fools! 

Truth be told, this Mount Rushmore renovation is nothing more than social media comedy at it’s best. But did we have you going for a minute? 🙂

On a serious note, our National Monuments are one of the things that make America special, and we LOVE to share them with visitors – especially foreign exchange students!

At International Experience, we place students from around the world with host families right here in the U.S. These students come to engage with the DAILY LIFE of American families, schools, and communities!

Are you proud to be an American? Would you love to share our national monuments, heritage, and culture with a student who is eager to learn? Consider serving as a host family! You may be surprised to find that you gain just as much as you give.

Visit iE-USA.org for more information!

They say reality is stranger than fiction, and student exchange is no exception! Want to laugh harder than you ever have in your life? Host an exchange student!

We love the funny stories we collect from host families over the years, and today we want to share one of our favorites from host mom Jennifer Talley!

I have hosted 12 times. One of the funniest memories happened when we were hosting a young lady named Lena from Germany.

It was her FIRST day here, and she had told us she had never seen the ocean before, so off we went to the beach! On the way, we stopped at a local CVS drugstore. Lena went in and had a small cloth bag with her. I didn’t think a thing about it and just started my shopping, and she went to get some items she needed. It was only a few minutes later when I turned the corner into the shampoo isle and I could see a CVS employee marching toward Lena – who was crouched down and putting items in her bag from the bottom shelf!

I immediately knew the employee thought she was shoplifting. You see … we had spent some time years ago in Germany and learned that you bring your own bags to shop with! Well, obviously this CVS employee has never been to Germany!

Even though I tried to explain she was an exchange student and that this was customary in her country, the CVS employee was not buying it. She escorted us to the front and asked for us to pay for our items and leave. I looked at Lena and said as we walked out the door,

It was obviously scary at the time, but we have laughed about it many times since then!

It’s a phenomenon we see time and again in student exchange: while selflessly giving of their homes and hearts, a host family will often gain just as much as they give! But what does that really look like? We want to highlight 5 offbeat benefits of opening your home to an exchange student.

1) See Your “Daily Grind” With Fresh Eyes

We’re living in an age of speed, convenience, and automation. As calendar pages fly by, days turn to months and months turn to years in the hustle of our jam-packed schedules. Hosting an exchange student provides a tangible way to “stop and smell the roses” as we begin to see daily life through new eyes and with new appreciation!

“When you have to explain so much of what you do to someone else, you are given the chance to see it again like it’s the first time, and that is precious. Life became something to notice again instead of being routine.” – host mom Charlotte Powell

2) Come Face-to-Face with a New Culture

Cultural interaction has always been a hallmark of student exchange, and it’s arguably more critical than ever in today’s world. If we want to break down prejudices and build understanding, RELATIONSHIP is the most likely antidote! When we invite exchange students into our communities – to share in our schools, play on our teams, and sit at our tables – we invite a new perspective. We share what is sacred to us and learn about that which is foreign. These interactions with the “other” lead us into new layers of empathy and understanding, and we, in turn, model to our children exactly what it looks like to embrace differences.

“The magic of student exchange is that you get to look behind the curtain into how people actually function in their day-to-day life. We find that we are different, but we are much, much more the same.” – host mom Jill Amunrud

3) Adopt a Mentor for Your Kids! 

Exchange powerfully shapes the worldview of children of all ages, giving them a lasting relationship with the outside world! It’s a common misconception that host families should have a teen son or daughter in the home. While teens generally love the chance to help a student plug into the high school, younger children make fantastic hosts as well. Young children are generally very open and bond easily with their new “big brother” or “big sister.”

And since the very nature of hosting requires learning about and “adopting” somebody who is different than their own family, the life-lesson of growing up with an exchange student is invaluable. Of course, the daily connections are perhaps the sweetest in the end!

“I thought it would feel a little weird having someone other than family in our house all of the time, but it’s not weird at all. She feels like she really is part of our family. And I love to show her stuff, and she tells me all about her country. It’s really cool!” – host sister Emily, age 11

4) Stay Connected for LIFE

Time and again, host families report an ongoing relationship with their student and his/her natural parents that outlasts the original 5 or 10 month program. These family connections that span continents are probably the most unique and impressive component to student exchange. Host parents are truly expanding their family throughout the world!

“You get to know people, and it (student exchange) gives you a more long-term relationship. I was an exchange student in Denmark when I was younger, and I’ve kept in touch with my Danish host families. We were even able to take the kids to Denmark to visit them, and I know that for the rest of our lives we’ll be in touch with our German exchange student Stina, too. Exchange shows you that the world is still big, but it’s not THAT big.” – host mom Jill Fisher

5) Laugh! (Seriously!)

You might be surprised to find that IE students don’t need a lot of possessions, excursions, or special treatment. What DO they need? They need YOU! A warm, supportive “home away from home.” A place where they feel safe. A place where they can be GOOFY. Candid connections and good-natured fumbles – these are often the most memorable and endearing!

“It’s like our family expanded when we hosted Henrik. We have so much fun remembering all the silly things we did together, like teaching him that shouting ‘SHOTGUN’ meant you wanted to ride in the front seat of the car. (When the kids first did this in front of him, he couldn’t figure out what we were doing. Were we going to shoot guns or what?!) I can now say I have 3 children……two in the US and one in Germany.” – host mom Sharon Parry

Curious about what it takes to become a host family? All you need is a spare bed, an open heart and a desire to be an involved and active family! Students come with their own spending money and insurance and hosts provide: “room and board,” help with local transportation, and (most importantly) the support of FAMILY.

Join the journey at iE-USA.org!

The LaCroix household has always bustled with intergenerational activity! 3 daughters + 1 son + mom and dad + grandma = one full house! Robert, the youngest, always wanted a brother. And when his sisters went away to college, he got one!

“Robert always wanted a brother but never had one,” shares host mom Sara.  “He is three years younger than his closest sister, and when she went off to college, we thought we would give him the brother he always wanted! I met a woman at Best Buy and she was peaking in German to a young man who was with her. We started up a conversation and I found out she was a host parent for iE.

We went through the application process and then picked out our son, Osasu from Finland.  Robert and Osasu immediately bonded and became very good friends, like brothers.“

Osasu was in for a treat as well, since the LaCroix family had every intention of making his experience memorable! They visited 12 states during his 10 month stay and collected priceless memories along the way.

“My favorite would have to be taking him to the Michigan International Speedway and having him do a ride along with a nascar driver!  Seeing his face and hearing him tell me ‘THAT WAS AWESOME!!’ was a highlight.

Another would have to be taking him to Tampa Bay Florida and going to see his favorite hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightening, play the New Jersey Devils.  Osasu got to see his favorite players shoot and his favorite team win.”

The amazing side effect of student exchange, as the LaCroix family soon discovered, is the absolute (and unexpected) JOY that comes from forming a lifelong bond and adopting a new member into your family. The downside of that new relationship, however, is the heartbreak of having to say goodbye.

“It was hard when it came time for Osasu to leave to go back home. He fit right in with our family. Always eager to help and was fun to have around. He came back a year later for another cross country trip where this time we went to 13 more states. He now has been to 25 different states in the United State of America. We miss him horribly and can’t wait to see him again!”

What will the future hold for Robert, Osasu, and the LaCroix family? Absolutely anything! They’re committed to staying in touch and being part of one another’s lives as much as possible.

They’ve experienced that shift in life’s trajectory, so that now their lives will forever be intertwined. For that, the LaCroix family and Osasu are incredibly thankful.

Have you ever wondered if YOU would make a great host family?

Here’s a little guide to help you find out…

Do you have a spare bed, even if it’s just the top bunk?

Can you pull up an extra chair at the dinner table?

Do you genuinely like meeting new people?

Are you interested in learning about other cultures?

Do you love the idea of gaining a new family member from “across the sea”?

You’re IN!!

“But wait,” you say. “Surely there’s more to it than THAT. I mean, we’re pretty unusual around here. We’re busy. We’re boring. And just to be honest, most days we’re a HOT MESS!”

You know what? That’s PERFECT. All of it. INCLUDING the “hot mess, don’t have it all together” part. (I’m being perfectly serious.)

IE students aren’t coming for perfection. They’re not coming for glitz and glamor. They’re not looking for fake, plastic people who never get it wrong. They’re coming for a REAL experience with REAL people. Yes, they’re looking for adventure – but 99% of that adventure is wrapped up in the RELATIONSHIPS they find when they step off that plane.

When preparing to come to the US, our students have MANY questions about what they may find here. They wait and they wonder. They skip meals and lose sleep. But you know what? All this restless waiting isn’t centered around questions like “will I get to see the Grand Canyon” or even “what will my bedroom look like.”

We talk to our students during this time. We prepare them. And we ask questions. “What are your biggest fears? What are your worries? How can we help?”

Did you know that our students’ MAIN concerns almost always center around PEOPLE?

What will my host family be like?

Will they like me?

Will we get along?

WHO will I meet in school?

Will I make friends?

Will I be accepted?

And in those raw questions we see the REAL purpose in student exchange: one-on-one, face-to-face RELATIONSHIPS.

So let’s get back to the “hot mess” host family. You know, the one who’s late to school half the time, whose kids inexplicably lose their shoes EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. The one who might let the dishes go so they can carve out a little family game time. The one whose yard desperately needs to be mowed, and their schedule is chaotic, and they’re just not sure they should host until they “have it together” a little bit more.  THAT family. (YOUR family??)

If THAT family is also genuinely interested in real connection…

If they can imagine welcoming a nervous high school teen with open arms…

If they’re willing to share their REALITY, laughing off the imperfections…

And if they’re ready to open their HEARTS, regardless of the state of the dishes or the lawn…

THAT family will find an AMAZING blessing in student exchange. It’s no surprise that so many host families and students maintain a life-long friendship. When you share LIFE together, you build a bond not easily broken. And in that relationship, everybody benefits. EVERYBODY wins.

And it all starts with a simple decision to leap: “hot mess” included.