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After They're
Gone
Missing Them
After your exchange student(s) leave, one may experience quite a void--even if you are happily married. This has happened to us on a few occasions, but most recently after our Russian exchange students left us. As teachers and musicians, we have most of the summer free to spend with the exchange students, but we are always busy with performing, traveling, teaching at summer camps, and keeping professionally current.
During the entire month the Russian exchange students were here, I sometimes wished they were not here because every time they would talk to me it was to ask ANOTHER QUESTION--usually when I had something to do for school. I was getting asked out!
At the end of the month, I had a rather eventful trip with the boys and the rest of their group (15 of them). You know--bombs in subways, teachers who could only speak Russian and French, and spending hours on THAT Red Apple Tour bus to get to one destination. Nevertheless, afterward the house began feeling lonely. I missed the one boy who was always interested in going new places and doing new things. I also missed the other boy who could be shown something once and master it by the next day! Face it, I had grown attached to them in spite of their questions! Fortunately, it wasn't a great period of time between the time they left and the time our next exchange student arrived, but I missed having them around.
After an exchange student leaves, a short trip (weekend) may be just the ticket to get to know each other (your spouse) and to provide a successful transition between having exchange students and being together again. I can't speak for the experience of those who have children, but I can imagine it could be much the same experience for them when their exchange students leave.
Make a Present for Christmas
One activity we do for the students after they leave is to create a present for the student(s) and their parents to send to them at Christmas time. We usually take (many) photographs of the students while they are here. Once they have left, we usually have some time to index them, and print out labels to paste on the back of the pictures, explaining where and when the picture was taken. This makes a memorable present for both the exchange student and their parents.