Home Stay

Well I’m considering studying abroad and at that University i’m Looking at I either have the option of doing a home-stay or just living in the dorms. And I’ll be 19 when I leave.
I currently live away from family and in a dorm so I’m used to the "freedom" and "independence" of on your own, But, I think doing a home-stay will help you get more of the country customs and help you learn the language faster and better, and help you become more comfortable speaking and exploring/traveling the country and just being there in general. However what I think the bad thing is living with a family you have to follow their rules and such and you never know what type of family you could end up with and being new to country I want to experience as much( including the nightlife) as I could just like anyone else would. Then I don’t know if I’ll end up being more "family-oriented" like I’d rather get to hang around the family and do things with them since I will be a guest in their house it’s only natural to get know them and then it possibly could cause me to not get as many friends from school.
I think if I was to live in the dorm I’ll meet a lot of people my age faster because they’ll be like "Look an American! I want to use my english and get to know them". I’ll have my own freedom to do as I please (of course while following the country’s traditions and customs) and it might make the natives more comfortable to talk to me when they see me around a lot out of class and can stop by my dorm room pretty much anytime. Plus living on campus I’ll think I’ll be invited to more social events, concerts and places to go for college students/teens then if I lived with someone cause I don’t know if they’ll have a kid who’s also in college or have any kids at all so they most likely couldn’t show me the "best places to hang out" and then living with someone I’ll basically only be on campus for class.

So I’m kind of conflicted between the two can someone help?

I would strongly reccomend staying with a family simply because you really get to experience what it that culture is like. You are truly living it and therefore grasping the culture. You get the food, the routine and the interior of the home as well as being able to observe how the other members of the family act/behave. The only down side of staying with a family is if they are strange it may not be fun but usually families who take students into stay go through many checks to ensure that they are relatively normal and will be able to sufficiently look after you.

I wish you all the best in your studies abroad.

I am hoping to do a homestay in Tokyo japan next year but I want to know about someones experience because i haven’t done anything like this before. I am 16 so the host family will be putting me in a high school, if someone else has done this what was it like. Also will two weeks be long enough to get the full experience? And I am black British so I heard that I would be met with curiosity about my skin tone.

I actually did a homestay program in Naka-shi, Japan, last summer! It was one of the best trips I’d ever taken. I learned a lot about their culture, which is saying a lot because I actually am Japanese and was born there. As to what you’ll be expecting, it will depend on the family. They say Asian families are strict, but my homestay family was way more lenient and laid back than my family here. However, all ten of us that did the program all agreed that the families were extremely nice and considerate, and most of us were told to call the mother and father "Mom" and "Dad".

I think two weeks is good enough to get the experience as well as any foreigner could. We only got one week, but that was enough time to get used the family’s regular schedules and to get to know how their family worked. And seeing as all of us cried when we had to go back, it was definitely enough time to get to know and to start caring about each other.

As long as you’re in Tokyo, I don’t think you’ll get that many stares for your skin tone. After all, it is a city of tourist attractions. I actually saw about a dozen black men working in stores in Harajuku.

I’m from M’sia and would like to stay with a host family in Seoul, Korea for over a week or so. I’m also still not so sure about the process of hosts programs… which is the best website i could go to look for infos?

ASA is a wonderful program. I’m not sure if they have any programs available in Seoul but it’s worth a try! You can just google exchange programs and a bunch will come up. Most of them aren’t scams but you still have to be careful.

im going to be staying in germany with a host family for three days! we aren’t told who our family is until we get there
so really we have no information other than they’re in/from germany xP
im from the la, cali area
and we’ve been advised to take
sees candy, disney souvenirs typical california stuff! xP
but idk what exactly yet :l
my family also wants to throw in a mixture of our culture to show that we’re diverse
we are mexican, so we wanted to incorporate that into the gift/s aswell
my parents want me to learn how to make guacamole and make it for them over there
but i am afraid they wont like it
any sugestions/ advice/ ideas?
thanks in advance

I would lean away from food because of custom requirements. DO you have hobbies that are particular to your area, perhaps skiing or surfing. Bring a small gift that represents your hobby. You could also do a photo small photo album that represents you. your family, your activities and you areas. Give them the album to keep.

Are you currently in college or high school? Consider getting something with your school’s name on it, such as a glass or other item that could be used by anyone.

I’m going to peru with my school in a week and we are doing a homestay i would like to get my ‘foster parent’ a gift that would be considered cool and americanish… or somethng that would make them thnk of chicago…. any ideas?????

A t shirt with the american flag or a disney gift from orlando, etc.

hi
i want to ask if there is a good homestay in seoul to live in with nice familly and good price for 2 people and for 29 day(cheap one please cause we’r student

ya, lots! check out couchsurfing.com!

I SHOULD be going to vancouver for uni in august, im 18 so im staying with a homestay family, i just wanna know, do homestay families usually allow foreign students to explore as they want, will they bug me about studying, furthermore will they call my parents if they dont like something abt me?? and me coming home late, would that cause any issues? i come from a very strict family, just hoping i dont end up with another one, some1 PLZZ clarify hw a homestay family wud likely be with me
THanKS!

Well, will your parents be constantly in contact with your host family? That could be extremely annoying for the host family and hopefully your parents won’t do that.

But studying abroad just like going away to college is about being away from parents and being on your own. Studying abroad takes this even further so you really shouldn’t be answering to your parents very much since they aren’t in your situation and they don’t know the area. The need to trust you and let you do your thing.

Host families, on the other hand, know their place and know that they are to look after you, but not to the extent that your parents do. For example, my host family helped with any and everything when I asked them too otherwise it was like living with room mates. Sure they might try to encourage you to study and they definitely can enforce a curfew (my brother’s host family did this due to safety concerns at night as well as they had a security system they set), but its just about obeying house rules and really anything else is up to you.

Also, see about picking out your own host family or at least learning about the host family before you go so you can see what you’re in for. All programs are different though so this information may or may not be available. I hope all of this information helps you out somewhat. Best of luck!

I am getting a Japanese exchange student at the end of this week to stay with me. I want to know how to tell her (in Japanese) what things will be hers for while she is here, and what things she can keep permanently. It is important that there are no misunderstandings early on.

Also how would you say "this______is for______"?

Japanese kids learn english from about nursery school, so her english should be good enough for her to tell you.

It’s probably not an issue.

I’m going to california this summer and im from Massachusetts. Where can I find a homestay, besides homestayweb.com and homestayfinder.com
Most of the homestays are in LA and i need one near Placentia, California.
as weird as it may sound, preferably chinese because I will feel more comfortable.

couchsurfing.org

My family is very interested in hosting an international student for homestay. However, we haven’t done this before so we don’t know how to go about doing this.

I’m a college student and I was thinking about putting up ads up at my university but don’t know if that is a good way to advertise.

It would also be nice if you could inform me on any good sites to find students who need homestay.

So…I’m curious on how to host international student for homestay??? I don’t know how to go about doing this or where to find students who need homestay.

I’ve checked some websites but none of them seem helpful at all…

You should contact STS ( http://www.stsfoundation.org/cm/content/host_families.asp? )

If you decide to become a host family you will get a student from another country.