Foreign Students By Sheila J
Last summer I decided to take in students for the summer as I was not going on holiday myself. I thought it would be nice to meet students from other countries. It was all arranged with the School of English. My first student was to arrive on the 7th of July. I received a letter from the School telling me all about my student. The whole family were excited about the student’s arrival.
He was a Spanish student, seventeen years old. I had to meet him at Dublin Airport at 2.30pm in the Arrivals Hall. A few days before his arrival all sorts of questions were going through my head. I wondered what he looked like, would he settle in with our family. I hoped he would like my cooking and I hoped he would like his room.
Well the big day arrived, myself, my husband and our two youngest children went to the airport to meet him. I started to panic, I said to my husband, “We don’t know what he looks like and he doesn’t know what we look like”.
Then I noticed a lot of people standing around the Arrivals Hall with placards with names on them. I realised that they were also there to pick up foreign students. We got a big piece of cardboard and wrote his name “Edwardo” across it in big bold letters. When Edwardo arrived and noticed his name he gave us a big hug as if we were old friends.
He was a lovely lad and he enjoyed his stay with my family. He settled in very well and he loved my cooking. He still writes to me and sends cards at Christmas and Easter time. I went on to have three more lovely lads stay that summer. That was my first time to have students staying, I never even missed going on holidays that summer.
