This post is the second of a three-part series on sending your child abroad. Click here to read the first post.
Have you ever wished you had family abroad so your children could experience life in another culture? Too bad you can’t “wish” your in-laws across the pond, right? Even so, it doesn’t mean that you can’t create this amazing experience. Children between the ages of 11 and 18 are at a great age for a mind-expanding trip overseas. It will require more legwork, but it is absolutely do-able. There are two possible sources to tap into.
Friends
Did you make any good international friends at your university? Or did you study abroad? Chances are, if you can find these friends online, they’ll be thrilled to re-connect. Why not contact them and catch-up on life? It is truly satisfying to connect with old friends, and you might be surprised at how much you still have in common. It is quite likely that they have kids around the ages of your children and they would most likely love to find a new friend. You can hook the two kids up through email or What’s App, and see if their friendship takes off.
Don’t forget about “friends of friends.” Do you have friends who have family abroad? Or international co-workers? Ask them if they have friends or family with a child of the same gender and similar in age to yours who might like to make a friend in the U.S. Then get the information and make the connection. Do not tell them about your idea for an international exchange -you’re going to first want to make a solid connection and get your kids corresponding. You don’t want to mention an exchange until you feel the other family is the right fit. Even when you do have a good fit, there will be plenty of details to hash out and questions to be answered (more on this in a future post).
Friends You Haven’t Met Yet
How about using the internet? Sound crazy? Yes, yes it does. But hear me out. Between e-mail and Whatsapp and Snapchat and Skype, people every day are making serious enough connections to marry someone they’ve never spent physical time with. If you and another family invest the time, you can make a lasting friendship that will allow you to not only send your child to live with them, but do it without fear! Through the wonders of Skype, you’ll be able to meet the entire family, get a tour of their house, and see how they live and what their interests are. Who knows, you may hit it off so well that you want to get your entire families together!
Here are a few places online where you might meet like-minded families:
- city-data.com/forum This is a wonderful resource where you can ask questions and learn about other cites, both in the U.S. and abroad. I have met one family through this website. We moved to the same city within days of each other and had kids of similar age. It was a blessing having built-in friends! Although we don’t live near each other, we still get together occasionally and the kids email weekly.
- Try reddit! Just add “/r/countrynamehere/” after reddit.com As an example, here’s the link for Colombia: https://www.reddit.com/r/Colombia/ Do not hesitate to create a thread in English. Most people will be happy to connect with you (and practice their English).
- meetup.com This site is dedicated to moving people from internet to real life connections.
- worldfriends.com is a website devoted to making international friendships.
- interpals.net is another international friendship website.
- couchsurfing.net is a website that aims at creating connections with the intent to visit.
- Do you have a special interest? Say, fencing or singing or scrapbooking? Check and see if you find a forum that has good attendance from internationals.
This may sound like hard work, but once you begin, I promise it’ll be easy. English is far and away the most popular foreign language in the world, with 1.5 billion learners1. You will have no problem at all finding a like-minded family wanting their child to spend time with an English-speaking family.
Part 3: Logistics of Sending Your Child Abroad