<p>I am a parent of an American student who has just left for an exchange program abroad. He is 17, senior in high school. He will be abroad for 10 months. It makes me sympathize with those of you who come to the US to study. How do you handle being away from home for so long at this age? How do your parents handle it? I miss my child very much.</p>
<p>Is it one of those exchange programs where students live with a host family and attend a local school for a year? I did that in 10th grade (was 15 at the time). I lived with a great host family that made me feel welcome every single day, and it didn’t take me too long to find friends. (Half the school wanted to meet ‘the foreign kid’!) I had a hard time with the language at first, but after about a month I was able to chat about everyday topics and do my school work without a dictionary. I think I handled it a lot better than my parents. I rarely felt like calling them because I was too busy socializing and doing school work, and they were anxiously waiting for each next call… </p>
<p>The only time I missed home was in the x-mas season. My host family went on a three-week vacation and I moved to a temporary home on Dec 23. I was kinda lonely celebrating x-mas with almost-strangers.</p>
<p>I’m a Canadian living down in the US now for school, so culturally it’s not a big difference although I am a long way from home.</p>
<p>I’d echo b@r!um’s sentiments in that I seem to be adjusting better than my parents, particularly my mother. For me, there are just so many activities to throw myself into and keep myself busy. I rarely feel like calling home, although my mom wants to check up on me daily. We talk when we can, when our schedules overlap. Otherwise, we try to keep in touch through email or instant messaging.</p>
<p>I’m also a Canadian student studying in the U.S. I try to call home as frequently as my time permits me to. Also, my parents and I are also saving up some money all the time so I could fly back home more at a greater frequency (eventhough it’s a transcontinental flight). I go back for thanksgiving, christmas, springbreak, and summer. So, over all, it’s not too bad, I spend an average of 5 months (at least for now) a year with my family back home.</p>
<p>I am an international parent with 2 kids studying in Canada. They are busy but miss us and home. I miss them terribly. Just about the time you get used to them being away, they come home for Christmas and your heart breaks all over again until the summer. We IM, email, skype and text regularly; this helps. I admire you for letting him go senior year.</p>