My elementary school once brought exchange students from Australia. They did short presentations about their culture, and spent the rest of the month in the library with a teacher that came with them. They never really talked with us or anything.
I went on a school exchange to Hangzhou China back in 2008. It was quite an amazing experience for me. I had never been outside central Europe before so there was definitely some culture shock, especially with the food. Became good friends with my exchange partner, who then visited my school in Germany a few months later.
My high school had a pretty big exchange program (up until COVID) mainly from China, Vietnam, and Spain, and I hung out with them all the time after school, and some of them even more 😅. Very pleasant experience getting to know about them and where they came from, and it was always super fun and interesting to see how they would react or approach American customs or even that of the other exchange students.
Was super bummed out when COVID disrupted that.
I had several classes in high school with an exchange student from Germany. She was pretty much like any other kid; except everyone would bug her to know how to say various things in German.
Yes, it was fun. It was with one of the places on the sister city program. You really had to watch your step though.
A friend hosted one when we were 17 or 18. He was from the USA and had never had beer before. One of these nights he hid under a parking car when he saw a police car approaching. Fun times.
