If you are studying abroad and have the opportunity to stay with a host family, please do.
Really, everyone I know who has stayed with a family has looooooved it.
I know kids who have lived in their own apartments, kids who stayed in dorms– mixed responses.
Everyone I know who had a host family– loved it.
Stay with a host family, do it.
(this is not my building, but someone else lives here, right?)
If you are studying abroad with International Study Abroad (ISA) there is a personality form that you have to fill out before you set off on your adventure that asks what you’re like, and what you expect from your family. I would recommend that you take this form very seriously. I was particular in what I expected, very honest about what I am like, and up front about what I expected to do while in Spain.
I think being super honest on that form seriously helped me get placed with the host mom that I had, who was amazing beyond words. She had worked at an art magazine, traveled extensively in South America, loved to read, watch art films,and go to art openings. I want to grow up and be her.
I know there was some hesitation from other kids in my program about staying with families that speak a language they didn’t feel 100% comfortable with.
I can’t speak for all study abroad programs, but with ISA these families had hosted multiple students before me and had been carefully screened.
They were familiar with how out-of-place a student could feel, especially with the language barrier, and they worked to make the adjustment smooth.
My roommate the first three months I was in Madrid spoke significantly less Spanish than I did, so I translated for her & our mom sometimes, but over the course of her 3-month program her Spanish capabilities ~Exploded~ because she spent so much time immersed in it at home and at school. (I don’t want that to sound like I didn’t benefit from the immersion, as well, because I really, really did).
That’s the basis of me recommending a host family above all else, because you are being exposed to the language from every front: school, out & about, and at home.
This kind of exposure causes you to learn words you’d never have a need of in formal academic settings, thus making your language knowledge more authentic and native.
For instance: hangers are perchas, the TV remote a mando. Tape was cinta.
We ate Spanish food, which meant eating way more eggs than typical to me, and it was amazing. I had no idea I liked eggs in so many forms.
This is chicken hammered thin, dipped in mustard, and breaded. V yum.
Our host mom was a mooovie buff. She owned literal hundreds of movies, and she organized them by country of origin. This meant Emma (roommate/ sister-in-Spain) and I watched Spanish movies, and got YET ANOTHER layer of exposure both to the language and to the culture.
I watched the news most evenings with my host mom, and from that was exposed to all kinds of newsy words, and I also got a window into a Spanish presidential election cycle. My mom was super in to politicics, as am I (hello, take that personality form seriously), so it was nice having someone informed to walk me through the fast-paced, constantly shifting world of politics in Spain.
It is so easy to interact with a host family with just a bit of effort, and the linguistic rewards are HUGE, so it is amazingly worth it. Stay with a family abroad.
This is my room (also, please note that I severely over packed with 2 suitcases
(Also, unrealted, take more photos than you think is necessary. I didn’t take enough and constantly regret it. I was so wrapped up how great everything was while it was happening, I didn’t properly document it to share when I got home.)
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