"I always say it was the best year of my life so far - it was so amazing," says Lilli. "And 80 per cent of what made it so amazing was the host family."
"It was such an amazing experience to go to the end of the world, for us, and have people who let you be part of their family," says Athenea.
They say they had closer relationships with staff at the school than they did in Germany and there was a much greater subject choice in New Zealand.
"You are almost not allowed to form relationships with teachers, it's not seen as appropriate I guess, but you gain a lot from these relationships when you can talk to your teacher and ask for help when you need it," says Lilli.
"The other thing is the variety of subjects. I'd never heard that you could have as a subject cooking or dancing or drama and especially outdoor education - it was amazing to me that you could learn and be part of nature and have these trips with someone who would teach you about nature," says Athenea.
Lilli and Athenea were planning their return to New Zealand even before they left.
They had bought tickets to fly in April 2020, but two weeks prior, the Covid-19 pandemic stopped them.
"Since then I've changed my flights six times," says Athenea.
"It was really hard," says Lilli. "We'd been looking forward to coming back for a year, we were so excited."
It was then she realised Kitty and John had done so much more than given them a temporary place to stay.
"I wanted to be with my family in Germany, but I also wanted to be with the family here. I remember people told me it wasn't the time for a holiday - that's when I realised, it's not about holidays, it's about having a family [in NZ]."
"Every time we would change the flights we'd always been full of hope that we would finally get to come. Then when we heard that our flights had been cancelled again we'd call each other and just cry," says Athenea.
Kitty and her husband John had planned to travel to Europe to catch up with the students, but that trip, too, had to be cancelled.
Kitty says hosting students is just something that works for the family.
"We've always had a very open home. We've got three adult kids of our own and these [students] just become part of the family.
"We lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and Switzerland for three. We've got a lot of overseas friends so it's just an extension of that and it's just been very easy, they've been such good kids."
Kitty says the family has always kept in close contact with students they have hosted.
"It's really hard saying goodbye, but I always say, it's not goodbye because we'll see you again."
The school's director of international students, Cathi Fourie, says the visiting students simply gain another family in New Zealand.
The Government announced last week that New Zealand's border will fully reopen from July 31. Included in that was the green light for international students to return two months earlier than was initially planned.
More than 5000 international students have already been confirmed for entry as part of previous border exemptions, which means they can be here by mid-July.
Cathi is expecting 16 to start at the school on July 25.
"We are really excited. It will be the first new students that have been here for two and half years."
She expects the number to climb to 30 in January - still short of the 50 or so students usually hosted by the school at any one time.
