Remember how the local coordinator was supposed to check in with me every Friday? She came once. I mentioned I was having issues to my then third student coordinator, but that I didn't want to switch again since I was afraid of being sent home and all she said was: That's very mature of you. She did not even try to help me or ask specifically what it was. I had told the Canadian organization that no exchange student, whether there for academic reasons or a cultural experience, would be happy living in the middle of nowhere aka with my first host-family, however, they sent another exchange student there. The summer after my exchange year, I couldn't bare the thought of another exchange student having to live with my third host-family either and called the German organization and told them everything that had happened, security cameras everywhere and all. They told me that that is obviously not ok and that they would make sure no exchange student would be in this host-family anymore. Guess what? They sent not one but two exchange students to stay with my second host-family, one of which was even from Germany. What frustrates me even more is that I had left a few negative google reviews of the German organization, which I have since had to take down, after which in a call, the owner of the German organization said that there was no German exchange student living with my third host-family. They follow the exchange student on Instagram, the student messaged me, there's multiple pictures of the student in my former bedroom, with the dogs, with the grand-children of my third host-mother.
YOU ARE READING
My Exchange Year
Non-FictionI would like to make a few things very clear: this piece is not meant to hurt nor depreciate the image of any individuals/organizations mentioned. It is purely meant to inform upon the issues encountered by a foreign exchange student aka the author...
