I was an exchange student to Kenya, East Africa, in 1977.

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Have you ever been an exchange student? In the summer of 1977 I was an exchange student to the country of Kenya in East Africa. In that year it was the silver anniversary of Queen Elizabeth. Kenya was independent but in the past it has been a colony of England. I lived in the city of Mombasa, on the east coast of the country. I lived on the island part of Mombasa and our house was 5 minutes walk from the beach. I attended a school in Mombasa where the students who were my own age (16,17) had a more advanced education than I did from my home school in the United States. I stayed for 10 weeks and even had a chance to date a wonderful young man. We cried together the morning I left Mombasa. Kenya is rich with mixed European, African and Asian culture. Many languages including numerous African tribal languages are spoken. The main languages are English and Swahili. Have you ever had an experience as an exchange student? There are schools that sponsor domestic exchanges that sometimes last just a few days or a few weeks. There are some programs that sponsor year long student exchanges and some programs that are only for the summer or a few months. Recently, my sons were privileged to make friends with a young lady visiting their school from Germany. She stayed here for about six months in this country. She also attended the same church and youth group as my boys do. In a few days she is going home to Germany. Listening to her the other day I heard the echoes of myself and my friends from almost 30 years ago... I've had such a good time here, and made so many friends, I don't want to go home...I just want to stay here!