I have learned a lot of Zuza's stay in our family

Hi, my name is Xavier Nijdam, I’m a 17 year old Dutch exchange student who is going to Sweden with YFU. During this coming school year I will be staying with a host family and I will attend high school. Hopefully I will also have the opportunity to do some snowboarding. The coming year is something I’m really looking forward to. I think living and participating in another family, surroundings and culture will be a big challenge. But I am sure that I will learn a lot and that I will have a lot of great experiences.

The experience of having YFU exchange student Zuza with us is very useful to me. I have learned a lot from her stay in our family. For example I have learned that exchange students should always, or at least as much as possible, say ‘yes’ to opportunities and invitations that come by during their exchange year. If you say ‘no’, people will not ask you again easily. I can also see that being an exchange student means that it is all up to the student: you have to make the most of your year! Zuza has stayed in The Netherlands for an entire school year, just like I will do this coming year in Sweden. In July she will go back to her own country and family in Poland. Zuza and I have been going to the same high school and we shared more or less the same friends. This fortified our brother and sister relationship.