Just curious about others experiences.French stepdaughter, 14, was on her colledge trip to the UK last year.The kids were hosted in homes, where the hosts are apparently paid for taking, in her case, a pair of kids.I was surprised to learn, they did not eat with the family, The grub sounded very basic and for their packed lunch they were provided with one sandwich, two bits of bread, no butter a slice of cheese.Most of the pocket money we gave her was spent on "suplimenting" her diet.It just sounded a bit of a minimal hosting exercise.Other parents had similar reports from their kids.When I was in Scotland, my son, 14 at the time went to Brive France on an exchange, arranged by my Rotary Club, he had a good time with generous hosts.The French lad came to us and I think enjoyed it, certainly his parents asked if he could come again.Just seems odd that being paid dosn't seem to improve the hospitality.She is off to Rome next week, she adores pasta! that could be a good start.