Homestay central to studying abroad
Ever since high school, I pictured myself spending the second semester of my junior year abroad in Spain, finally becoming fluent — or, at least being able to hold a solid conversation in the language I had been learning since middle school. Yet, when it came time for me to apply, there was one part of the USC Madrid program that was making me hesitant: the required homestay.
I toyed with the idea of going to London instead, where I could live in my own apartment, cook my own food and live with people I already knew, since most of my friends were going to London.
Luckily, my parents talked me out of this idea and reminded me that getting out of my comfort zone was a good thing, and I’ve never been more grateful. Living in a homestay has been an integral part of my study abroad experience. I can’t imagine enjoying my semester as much as I have without my host family, and I know I wouldn’t feel nearly as integrated into the Spanish culture without them either.
That’s not to say that adjusting to my homestay was easy. It took a few weeks to acclimate. In fact, it’s an ongoing process that I think will go on throughout the semester as I continue to learn new things everyday.
Upon my arrival to Madrid, there were a few things that immediately took me by surprise: the double-cheek kiss that my host mom greeted me with, the full leg of ham in our kitchen and the fact that my 75-plus-year-old host parents didn’t speak a word of English.
The first night was overwhelming. We ate a nearly two-hour dinner (when it comes to meals in Spain it’s a marathon not a sprint), and I tried to keep up with the conversation in a language I only had a mild control over. On top of this, my host parents bickered like the old married couple they are, with the arguments going back-and-forth like a pong-pong match.
Going to bed that night in my tiny room that’s only a little bigger than my closet at home, I thought for sure I’d regret my decision to come to Spain. I worried I’d spend the next four and a half months wishing I hadn’t come at all.
By the time my jet lag wore off, however, I knew I had made the right decision. During the first weeks, I learned so much about Spanish culture — much of which was by trial and error. For example, the fact that Spaniards always wear slippers in their homes (it’s considered rude to walk around barefoot at home), they’re very conscious about energy conservation — we have a limited supply of hot water, and lights are always off in rooms and hallways unless a person is physically in the room — and Spaniards generally require much less personal space than we’re used to in the U.S. Spaniards are also much more blunt than Americans. If you gain a few pounds, look particularly tired one day or get a bad haircut, you’ll know about it.
Every night when I eat dinner with my host parents, we watch the news in Spanish, which provides an invaluable experience to not only improve my language skills, but also learn about Spain’s current events. Our subsequent conversations about what is being discussed on the news have taught me important lessons about the political, social and economic climate of the country.
Most of all, I learned that Spanish people are kind, caring and passionate. (You really haven’t seen passion until you’ve seen a woman older than my grandma yell at the television rooting for Athletico Madrid.) I truly feel like my host parents try to make me feel like one of their own children and care deeply about my well-being. Whether my host mom is helping me with my Spanish, packing me a lunch to bring to the airport or folding my laundry, it’s the small things that show me that they really care. I thought living in a homestay would be much more of a transaction — that I was just paying for meals and a place to sleep. In reality, it’s been so much more than that, to the point where I really feel like I have a family in Spain.
Even when my parents — my real parents, that is — came to visit Madrid, my host parents made an active attempt to make sure they felt welcome. When my parents and I took them out for lunch, my host mom ordered all the Spanish specialties on the menu so that my mom and dad could have an authentic taste of Spain. She insisted that my parents come to the apartment for dinner, knowing that that my parents speak no Spanish and that they wouldn’t be able to communicate without me translating for everyone. The fact that this didn’t even matter to my host mom and that she really just wanted to get to know my family was an incredibly kind gesture.
Of course, there are times when living with my host parents is frustrating, like when I dislike the food being served or when, after the third time something is repeated, I still can’t understand what they’re telling me. But ultimately, it’s taught me so much about Spain, its people and culture –— and not to mention greatly improving my grasp on Spanish. Living in a homestay has provided a perspective that would have been impossible to gain any other way as an American student studying abroad, and I cannot recommend it more highly.
Emily Goldberg is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism. The column, “Troy Meets World,” runs every other Tuesday.