Jessica's first day
Jessica arrives on a hot August day, after flying from Seoul, South Korea to our airport in Minneapolis. 
She's got a smile on her face when she meets us, but she's also very shy.
This begins my story about hosting a foreign-exchange student
Jessica's 10 years old, and comes from Seoul, South Korea. She's the same age as my sister Anna, so she will be spending more time with her than me.
Her Korean name is Seo Hyun, and she likes playing the piano and flute.
Before she came to America, we communicated with her by e-mail. She said she wanted her American name to be Jessica.
Where?
Jessica has always lived in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is a city of more than 10 million people. She has never seen a lake or been on a boat. She has barely even seen any birds! So we take her to my uncle's cabin.
Pool time is fun time!
Jessica has no problem learning how to enjoy a swimming pool.
Jessica is surprised there are cabins in the U.S. because they don't have them in South Korea.
"I like the fresh air. I was so used to the dirty air in Seoul, so the fresh air is really nice," she says. She's shocked by the clean water because she has never seen that either.
Jessica's nervous about the first day of school. She doesn't know if school will be easy or hard and she doesn't know what the kids will be like.
Routine life in America
When Jessica gets home from her first day of school she tells us that it went great. All of the kids are nice and if she has any questions she can just ask my sister.
Jessica makes friends easily. Since she speaks English so well she's a very good student. Jessica thinks it's weird that textbooks at school are used year after year by different students.
Just like sisters!
The kids really like Jessica. They have never met anyone from another country before.
Jessica misses her home sometimes, but she gets to talk to her mom every week. In her spare time she likes to stay in her room and read.
She reads all of her books in English, mostly from the school library.
Jessica says there are many differences between daily life in South Korea and in our country...
