Dear Alida,

Sorry I haven’t written before. I’ve been here 5 weeks now and I can say that it has been great so far! The family is just wonderful. I am really lucky that I have chosen them. They gave me a laptop in my room and I even have 3 days a week off. There are no special rules, they pay all the petrol and all my driving license costs. I can use the car whenever I want and I can use it if I want to travel over the weekend! I have no major problems with the children, and every day it is getting easier. Every day is a new challenge. I spend all my free time with other girls, most of them from Poland and one other from South Africa. We really enjoy ourselves and plan excursions together. Next month, we are going to Chicago.

All this time, I haven’t been homesick at all! Everything is new and interesting! Last weekend, we had a cluster meeting for all the girls in Michigan. We were on a farm and danced to the music of the country. They taught us how to do country dancing. It was really fun and very entertaining.

I am in contact with Zvonka. Her host family moved South Carolina. I'm going with my family on vacation to the ocean in North Carolina, so we plan to meet up. It will be so great.

My message to the other girls is that this is a phenomenal program. Just make sure you really want to do it and be very detailed in the questions you ask families during the interview and there will be no unpleasant surprises when the day actually comes!

All the best

Andrea