Tag: globaled

The Best Part of Study Abroad? My Host Family!

Published on by DU Abroad1 Comment

I knew I wanted to study and live abroad in Italy since the first time I traveled there during high school.  I chose a full year program, hoping to improve my language skills and really experience the culture outside of the American study abroad bubble.  The best choice I made throughout this entire process was the decision to stay with a host family for the entirety of my trip. I was extremely excited up until the point I actually arrived on my host’s doorstep, lugging four suitcases behind me and trying to stay awake through my hideous jet lag. Prior to my departure I was told that I would be living with a single woman in a tiny apartment who may or may not have one or two cats…and that was the extent of what I knew.  I stood on the doorstep for a few more moments, repeating over and over again in my head what I would say in Italian as soon as she opened the door. 

The entire experience turned out to be much stranger and better then I could have imagined. It was just me and my host mom, and we did live in a tiny, vintage roman apartment with a fountain in the courtyard, and the one or two cats turned into a sweet canine named Tatto who arrived every weekend to stay with us along with my host mother’s boyfriend.  Coming home every night to a warm meal and someone to listen to all my daily triumphs and struggles was incredibly helpful in dealing with homesickness and the stress that sometimes came with trying to interact daily in a language I wasn’t fluent in.  She would even speak to me in her broken English sometimes, incoherently, to try and make me feel better on especially rough days.   I was able to spend the holidays with her family, learn invaluable secrets to cooking authentic roman food, and gain insight from her stories on life, love, and everything in between.

Of course there were a few awkward moments in the beginning, stemming from trying to act natural and normal while learning to live in a complete stranger’s house. I’ll never forget the time her boyfriend accidentally walked in on me in the bathroom, or when I completely melted a spatula on the stove and I had to tell her what happened. Sometimes even the little things were exemplified into embarrassment, but the feeling slowly drifted as we both learned how to live with each other.  My host family experience was the best aspect of my entire year abroad, and I will always remember it fondly.

Jillian Neilson, OIE Peer Advisor

Battling Spiders and Turtles for my Underwear

Published on by DU AbroadLeave a comment

When I lived with my host family in China, laundry was a foreign world to me. There were two dryer-looking machines in a small corner of the apartment, but, as far as I could tell they were never used—electricity was too expensive. Not only did I hang dry all my clothes, I washed all my clothes by hand.

For the first week of my stay, my host mother did my laundry for me. I remember the day when my host sister, who was two years younger than me, came into my room and told me I would be doing my own laundry. I smiled—because that’s what you do when people are helping you and you have no idea what they mean—and followed her to the bathroom. When asked if I had washed my laundry before, I hesitated then shook my head. The expression on my sister’s face was priceless. She called my mom, who repeatedly showed me that my wringing abilities were below par. Once again I smiled, slightly exasperated. I was athletic, young…why couldn’t I wash my clothes as well as she?!

Throughout my stay, a slew of laundry problems continued to occur. My sister stood and watched me as I tried to bat a spider off my hanger without dropping it down my shirt, I felt self-conscious when I realized I washed my clothes twice as much as my sister (many Chinese will wear the same clothing two times or more before washing it). My mom (jokingly!) told me I was a naughty daughter when half my underwear dropped from the rafters into the turtle bin. Back to the bathroom sink I went.

Tackling laundry was something I never really thought about before going abroad—I definitely did not expect to battle spiders and turtles for a clean shirt! Laundry proved an interesting experience for a lot of my friends—one student was mortified when she was asked to wash her own underwear. I’m pretty sure she buckled down and washed them—clean clothes are a MUST abroad!

In hindsight, I’m glad I left all my super-nice, super special clothing items at home. Of course, I brought some staples such as my favorite shorts and tanks, but nothing that was fancy material. Since I am going abroad longer this time and will be having a professional internship, I will be bringing slightly nicer clothes, but they will be durable! Anything else I need, I can buy abroad. It’ll be in-style within my country, cheaper, and will definitely be laundry-proof!

Michelle Yeager, OIE Student Worker