Benefits of Living with a Local Host Family

Language immersion: Living with a Spanish family, rather than other international students, forces you to practice your Spanish every day. When you constantly hear Spanish at your language school, and then have to hear and speak it at home, your language skills will improve rapidly. Language Learning in a homestays provide safe learning environments to try out new words or practice the local language.

 

Cultural experience: Staying with a family will give you glimpse into how people really live in Argentina. Host families will usually provide you with some of your daily meals, so you’ll get to eat local food. Families will also be able to advise you on aspects of living in Argentina, like where to buy things, great local places to visit or popular local entertainment. Some host families may also include you fully in their family lives and invite you to places and events that you’d not normally get to go to, if you were travelling on your own.

 

Feeling of safety

If you are a young adult, who is travelling abroad alone for the first time, staying with locals may be easier than other types of living arrangement, because you won’t have to worry so much about cooking, where to do your laundry or other practicalities. It can make you feel a little bit less homesick too, if you’ve never lived outside of your own home before. Some students become good friends with their host families and stay in touch with them afterwards.

 

Argentina traditions: Experience birthdays, holidays, night time routines, and general interactions in families. Learn the way they communicate with one another, greet each other, share meals, or where they sleep in the house. All of these things vary by culture, but may be missed in general societal settings alone. Living in a local home gives endless opportunities to impeccably explore familial traditions of the nation.

Ask Cultural Questions: Curious how to get from point A to point B, where to sit and not sit, or what clothing is appropriate for a particular setting, living with a host family gives you the ability to ask a local while avoiding the embarrassment of asking. Not only do host families have experience in answering the questions of foreigners, if they have hosted guests previously, they also provide a warm, loving environment for asking important questions you may not feel comfortable asking anyone else.

 

Observe cultural practices within the home: Host family accommodation allows guests to learn about many cultural practices through observation of their host family. They can observe interactions between different generations, learn what unique body language implies, and see how certain phrases or actions are used and accepted. A homestay provides the opportunity to gather valuable cultural information regarding who cleans, who cooks, who makes the money, who is lazy, who never sits down, who drinks, and who eats. The types of practices that may not be easily formed into a question, but through observation can be coherently learned.

 

Live like a local:

Learn what locals like to do, where they like to go, when they like to do particular tasks or activities throughout the day, and how they like to do them. Take time to learn how to cook your favorite dish, try out a native game, watch a local TV show, or enjoy a pastime. Wake up at dawn if that is what the locals do, go to sleep at five o’clock if that’s what locals do, take a nap at noon everyday if that’s what most locals do. Participate in the typical weekend or evening activities right along with your host family to fully live life like a local.

 

Gain your own native family: Find a home away from home through staying in a homestay, host families can become one of the biggest reasons to visit again and again. Living in a family environment can help foreigners feel at home in a foreign land and especially help combat any feelings of homesickness. It also gives visitors the chance to gain siblings, aunts, or uncles they may have never had the chance to have.

 

Gifts from home:

When packing for your trip, you may have come across packing lists that recommend bringing several small gifts from your home country to give to families or friends when you visit their homes. This can be a fun opportunity to share part of your home with others if you choose wisely. If you’re not buying more general gifts, keep in mind the ages and gender of your recipients as well as the area you’ll be visiting.  The Host Family gift shouldn’t be anything too expensive or fancy, but it is a nice offering & an opportunity to share with them about your culture as well! "It's important to take something that reflects your culture.

 

Think local: If your town or state is known for its forests, maybe you could bring a book of photos of the wildlife. If you’re from Vermont, you could bring local syrup. Sports paraphernalia for your favorite team is one option, and music, games, and magazines can also be great cultural items. 

 

Cook it up: A fantastic way to bond with family or friends is to pick your favorite home-cooked recipe (chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, maple syrup) and bring everything that you won’t be able to buy in your new country. Then spend a night making your country traditional meal for everyone. You’ll be able to show off your skills in the kitchen (if you have any) What a delicious way to share your culture!

 

Pack a Snack: Some people like to bring packaged snacks and packets of mixes from various foods like macaroni and cheese sauce, french onion dip, soup, etc. Again, these are fun gifts to enjoy with the family but are also comforting flavors from home. Don’t forget that some food items that are familiar to us can be bizarre elsewhere.(Remember that Argentinian do not eat spicy or hot food)

 

Last-Minute Mementos: If you forget to buy gifts before you go, you can always pick up something from the airport or even go shopping after you arrive in your new home. Gifts are a thoughtful gesture and don’t need to come from your country - a bottle of wine, chocolates or other delicacies can be picked up at a local store.

 

Hopefully those tips will give you some ideas, so get creative! And don’t forget- no matter what gifts you decide to bring, it’s always great to take a picture album with photos of your friends, family, and interests back home.