There are many different factors that go into making or breaking your experience on a study abroad journey, but one of the most important would have to be the host family that you are assigned to. There are families that tend to keep to themselves and others that ask near perfection from you. In my case I had a little bit of both. I will begin by talking about the host kids. Although they always tended to keep to themselves, there were multiple times they were pretty rude, not just to me but to their parents and the housekeeper as well. Whether it was because of the cultural differences or because they were still young adults I don’t think it was acceptable the ways they behaved at times. As for the actual hosts, I could not have asked for anyone better. They were always pretty nice and always came home asking what new things I had tried that day or what new things I needed to go out and try. Another plus was that they would constantly give me things! I was shocked the first time I arrived home to a bag full of t-shirts laying on my bed. When I asked the host lady she said she grabbed them on special with an unbeatable price and could not pass them up. It was one of the many nice gestures I would receive from them this semester. Another thing I really liked about the family I stayed with was their family. About every other weekend on Sundays we headed to my host lady’s sisters house for brunch. They would sit around a table and talk about new things that were happening around the city or around their households. Although I was the topic of conversation a good 10-15 percent of the time they always had pretty nice things to say so I didn’t mind it much. Some things that I believe would have helped make my stay a little smoother in the beginning would probably have been to receive a key as soon as I got there. Although there was always someone home that was able to open the door, they would go to bed about 10P.M. and it would bother me having to wake someone up for me to get in. Eventually I just kept the key they would let me borrow. Another thing that would have helped was their Wi-Fi. It only reached just passed their living room and halfway through their kitchen. It was difficult for me to call home. When I would call my parents (I speak to them in Spanish) there was always someone in the living room listening to everything I said, I had no privacy. Overall although it had its ups and downs of course, I would recommend my hosts to another study abroad student. The hosts themselves were very nice people and always offered to help if I ever needed anything. They would take me on trips around Lima and always had me trying new things.
I have requested that they send me a few pictures so I could put up on the blog and will put them up as soon as I receive them.
I have requested that they send me a few pictures so I could put up on the blog and will put them up as soon as I receive them.