My name is Franzi; I'm 16 and an exchange student. I had the chance to stay with a new family for one year, here in the United States. I'm a junior and go to Honey Grove High School in Texas. Being an exchange student has a lot of good things but you have to realize that not everybody wants to deal maybe with homesickness or something like that.

So why should you be an exchange student?

You will learn a lot over your new country you will go to. You learn to know new people and their culture. I always liked to meet new people, so it was a great chance for me. I can say that everybody was really nice to me and I found a lot of new friends. Also, when you come back to your home country, you will know the language perfect. Those were all reasons why I really wanted to do an exchange year. I know it is hard to leave your family in your home country and go and live with all those new people you don't know. Of course, I can say from my own experience that there will be some times you're homesick and you think why am I doing this? I would say that it is normal and if you think about all those good things you have and all the experience you'll make, you probably will have a great time you won't regret.
Maybe I could encourage you to do something like that and you will have an amazing year like me which you'll never forget.