High School Homestay Programs Abroad

If you are considering a high school program abroad, make the most of your educational experience by living with a homestay family. Not only will you have someone to help you make the transition into a foreign country, but you will see the genuine beauty of the country and people, which will make the world seem much more inviting.

First, consider the depth of cultural immersion you will dive into. You’ll meet locals, taste home-cooked meals, and have an authentic experience of your new home country; tag along to exclusive events, automatically belong to a social circle, and have a personalized tour guide to all of the best off-the-radar nooks. From a practical stand point, there are minimal costs. Normally, staying with host families is much cheaper than fending for yourself in your own apartment, especially if the arrangement includes meals, laundry facilities, weekly cleaning, and potential weekend excursions.

If your goal is to learn a new language, staying in a homestay will get you from hello to hola in less time that it would take you to flip through that Spanish textbook. While classes and language schools provide great foundations, the best way to learn a language is to practice, practicar, pratiquer. You’ll adapt the intonation, learn local expressions, and have very patient teachers available around the clock in your homestay abroad. Plus, what better way to bond with your homestay family than by accidentally remarking that their newborn is la poubelle or by mining out the expression for curfew?

Coming back from a homestay abroad, you will be open to different perspectives, learn new practical skills, and have experience adjusting to foreign living situations. Not only will you be appreciate your room back home, but you will have no problem moving out for good and trying to settle down on that college campus. After partaking in weekend gardening sessions and picking up local recipes with your host mom, moving into a dorm and figuring out the setting on the laundry machine will not come with the same degree of homesickness afflicting your roomies.