A Host of Opportunities: Homestay Accommodations

Remember the first time you spent the night at your best friend’s house? How weird the family was? How the younger brother kept giving you dirty looks? You entered a world of different rules, different habits, and different preferences. And what was that stuff they tried to pass off as dinner?

Now imagine living with a family like that in a foreign country where the culture and language is different from your own. You’re getting closer to picturing what it’s like in a homestay setting.

But don’t let that scare you. If you are willing to handle the challenge of communication and cultural differences, living in a homestay offers you the opportunity to forge beautiful friendships and understand your host country and city inside out.

Homestay accommodations offer a private single room in an apartment or house shared with a family, couple, or older person.

If the differences between your family and another family at home can be drastic sometimes, recognize that the differences are multiplied when the families are in different countries.

Your homestay hosts may live in a culture with extremely different views on politeness and socially acceptable behavior. Do your best to study these views before you get there, but there will always be some things you just have to learn firsthand. Your homestay hosts know this, and they will be willing to break from their customs if you need help. Even in cultures that typically find directness rude, your need for understanding and help from your hosts trumps this, and they know it. So it is okay to speak up and be direct, especially when you first arrive and need some time to adjust. Tell your hosts if you don’t like a certain food or don’t understand something. However, try to fit in and follow the customs more the longer you are there. Your hosts will appreciate your effort and respect for their culture.

Take the time to get to know your hosts—what they like and dislike, their thoughts, their hopes, even their prejudices. See how they compare to your preconceived notions of the culture. Also observe other people who cross your path and see how your hosts compare to them. You may never have a better opportunity for cultural understanding.

Finally, try to take advantage of your hosts’ knowledge when it comes to travel and tourism. They are likely going to be much more helpful than the mass-media travel guides. While you don’t want to annoy your hosts (they are normal people, not travel agents or a concierge service), they should be able to show you attractions that go beyond the big tourist traps and take you to some lesser-known treasures. Combine this with the possibility for making life-long friends and a point of contact for any return trips, and you’ll find that you’ve come away with yet another “edge in life.”