My husband, Lee English, and I started hosting MAST students in 1997 for 3-4 days when they first arrived, often picking them up at the airport. Until COVID shut down the use of local hosts, we provided the first welcome to the US to at least 23 students. We kept in touch during their farm stays and visited them on site when we could. We welcomed students to our home if they came to the Cities for a visit. Often, we had a lunch gathering if the student's family came for a visit.
When in Europe, we visited former students. We made lasting connections and still exchange Holiday greetings with several. Our goal was to provide an opportunity to meet a city family before students went to their assignments. I speak German, French, and Danish--often an advantage with students from countries where these languages are spoken. I guess I would say the lasting impact of our participation in the program are the friends we made around the world.
We have so many memories that choosing what to share is a challenge. Our youngest guest was barely 19 and had never cooked for himself. He was placed in an apartment near his farm, and came to spend a weekend with us a month after arriving at his farm. He told us all he was eating was frozen pizza! We took him to the store and showed him many easy options for a new solo cook. A friend brought a bottle of kefir and explained how to use it as a "starter." Two of his friends from Germany came at the end of his farm stay to see the US. They all stayed with us and left a vehicle with us as the flew off on their tour. They were all so naive. We were horrified to find open bottles of booze in the car they left at our house. When they returned, my husband had a "talk" with them about laws in the US.
One of our favorite MAST students never actually stayed with us, though she came to our home for many meals while on campus and when she returned for a masters program. She was the friend of one of our students. We kept in contact with her and have visited her at OSU where she is a tenured prof in vet med. Whenever she returns to MN, we get together. We've attended a local baby shower for her, met her husband, and follow her adventures and career.
Once when we were entertaining a student, who had been in the US for 9 months, and his family for lunch and he was chatting away, he mother looked at him in amazement and said, "Tu parles anglais!" Another favorite student missed a connection in Paris on her way to the US, so spent the night there and arrived a day later than planned. We picked her up at the airport and drove her directly to orientation. I asked her where she was from and she said Denmark. I then asked "Where in Denmark?" Strangely, she was from the town where my grandfather was born and which I had visited often. We agreen it is, indeed, a small world.
