Adventure Time in Indiana
Exchange student from Georgia and host sister dress up like cowboys for spirit week at school

Chicago, spirit week, volunteering...

I am Mariam, from the country of Georgia. I am a FLEX exchange student. I’d like to share a few memories I’ve made this month with my host family, local coordinator, and other exchange students.

At first, I was nervous, coming to a whole different continent alone, with no people I knew before. It all sounded hard but exciting. But when I met my host family, I knew that I could trust them. I live in Indiana with a host family of five. I have host parents, a host sister who’s 21, her son who’s one, and another host sister who’s 17.

They are a perfect family and accepted me as their own daughter. Every day with them is a new adventure. I’ve been here for only a month, but because of them I’ve already made many memories, visited a bunch of places, and met awesome people.

I was super nervous meeting new people on my first day of school but it turned out well.

Homecoming was fun: dressing up as a cowboy, sporting my host dad’s jersey, and even wearing pajamas at school was great! 

Our local coordinator took us, a group of exchange students, to the big city of Chicago. It was very impressive and one of the best days of my life. I’m hoping to visit Chicago again, soon.

I also went to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo with my host sisters and nephew. It was another nice day spent with my host family. We enjoyed seeing all the animals in the zoo.

Our schools all had a homecoming week. Even if we go to different schools, our homecoming was fun. Dressing up as a cowboy, wearing my host dad’s jersey, and even pajamas at school was great!

Nur, a PAX/ FLEX exchange student from Kyrgyzstan who also goes to my school, and I went on a volunteering mission. We volunteered together at a food bank and helped deliver food for more than 500 families.

These are some of the many adventures I had this month. I hope the rest of my exchange year will be this interesting, too. I can’t wait for Halloween and all the traditions my family has for it!;

—Mariam (FLEX, Georgia), hosted by the Minth family (IN)