When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, 'Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.' At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.

Things began to go wrong as soon as I arrived in my new home in Winston-Salem, where I was to spend my year abroad. For example, every Monday my host family would gather around the kitchen table to talk about sex. My host parents hadn't had sex for the last 17 years because -- so they told me -- they were devoting their lives to God. They also wanted to know whether I drank alcohol. I admitted that I liked beer and wine. They told me I had the devil in my heart.

Abducted by the American Taliban, Michael Gromek tells of being woken at 6:15 for mandatory church attendance, receiving lollipops as reward, and being drafted into liaising with his home country to help his host family build a mega church in Krakow. Oh, and his mom is the devil for being separated from his father.

Aren’t these people screened before we allow them to house foreign students?