Welcome to my Second Family

Let me introduce you to my host family, since it’s one of the biggest part of your exchange year, and therefore also a big part of you. I have a host mom and a host dad, named Teresa and Ronald. Unlikely in Denmark, I don’t have any siblings, at least not any that lives at home. If you ask me I don’t mind be an only child for a year, I always thought how it would be like, and now I’ve tried it. Back in Denmark I’m the youngest of three and here it’s the opposite, if you can call my so called nephew and nieces siblings. They feel like that, since I see them every week. The oldest, Jack, is 12 and then there’s two girls, Laney Brooke and Cami, who is 9 and 7. For the first time in my life I have smaller siblings, which I’ve always wanted, and now I can check that off my list.

I will call my host family (parents) one in a million, we’re the perfect match if you ask me. In many ways we’re the same, when it comes to life in general and how we see it, which makes it easier to live together. Ronald, my host dad, is 71 years old, which can’t be seen on his personality. He loves sport sky high, and watch it on tv as often as he can, he also plays once in a while. One thing Ronald and I have in common is, that we’re both twins, both brothers. Him and his brother is identical and look very much alike, I haven’t met him yet though, since he live far away. Another thing we also have in common is time. We’ll rather be 15 minutes early than late, and everything needs a plan. Before Ronald retired nine years ago, he was a math teacher and coach at the high school I’m attending this year.

Teresa, my host mom, is unlike me, very chill when it comes to time, and take everything as it comes, which in many ways is a positive thing. If I should use only one word about her, it would be peace. She loves the earth and its belongings like no other, and wouldn’t dare to kill an animal, not even a bug. Teresa was also a teacher, like Ronald. She retired seven years ago, and was before that an English and French teacher. Later she took a year off, to study counselling and got a master degree. When she finished in 2000 she became a counselor at another high school in the town.

Together they have two children, Mickey at the age of 41 and Meredeth who is 36. As I wrote, I have one host nephew and two nieces, who I’d rather call siblings. Jack and Laney Brooke is Mickey’s children and Cami is Meredeth's. I see them every week, some of them more than others, but I still love them equal.

Every Sunday we go to Teresa’s mom for lunch, where you always can expect to see some of her family, they are all very nice and I get along well with all of them. Both of their families is huge, so I’d rather not dig in that. I can’t forget to tell you, that Teresa and Ronald have a little dog named Rocko, also a difference from Denmark, where I don’t have any animals.

As every other exchange student I have a Local Coordinator, her name is Debbie, and is very nice. She checks up on me every month, and make me feel safe if anything should happen. She had an exchange student from China earlier in the year, who left in December, who I got friends with even though we didn’t attend the same school.

Both Ronald and Teresa has a lot of humor, and can always make me laugh. Together we have experienced many things, and I appreciate every single one. In the start of the year we went to a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans. The second time vi visited the city my High School’s football team played in the final, but didn’t win unfortunately. The third and last time was for New Years, it was a very cool experience. Together we have also been to two college football games and one professional. One of my favorite thing to do, is to sit every evening and watch tv, I can relax after a long day and spent it with two of my favorite people. If you ask me, I think the small things in life is just as important as the big ones.