Erica De Silva
January 22, 2024
Studying abroad with homestay can be one of the most exciting adventures of your life. It is filled with new people, experiences, places, and learning. Of course, this much change and novelty can also be scary or daunting. You’ll have to learn to adapt and understand a different culture and meet new people, and you may be concerned about whether you’ll get along with your host family.
This is an entirely understandable concern, but it doesn’t have to be full of uncertainty. In fact, there are many tips to help avoid getting off to a bad start with a new host family. Let’s take a look at some homestay tips for navigating the etiquette of living with a new host family.
Understanding Your Host’s Rules for Homestays
One of the most important things to do when arriving at your new host family’s home is to learn the ground rules. Ask what their general expectations and rules are so that you know them right away.
This helps to prevent many general upsets from things that you may not have known or missed. Here are a few other tips to keep in mind.
Establish Proper Homestay Etiquette through Communication
Communication goes a long way when it comes to homestay etiquette. As long as you can communicate with your homestay family, you can avoid many confrontations or grief. Ask questions about anything you need to know or don’t understand. This can help to avoid difficulties because of misunderstandings or unintentional ignorance.
Furthermore, your host family can offer you a lot of great information. They can tell you the best local spots, where to eat, what places to avoid, and more. They are the perfect guides with all of the tips and info that you need.
Be Respectful
When staying in someone else’s home, it is important to be generally respectful. Of course, what this entails can have differences for everyone, but there are ways to practice general respect. This includes ensuring your room and space are tidy and maintaining good overall hygiene. Treat your host family with kindness and appreciate them opening their home.
Spend Time with Them
It can be off putting for hosts to have a live-in guest who never seems to want to spend time with them. They want to get to know you, and you should get to know them as well. You will get so much more out of your homestay experience when you embrace your host family.
This will help you learn the general culture and interact with everyone outside the home as well.
Contribute to the Household
Since you will be living in the household, it is essential that you contribute to it. Help with chores around the house or assist with duties when asked. Let them know that you are willing to help in any way you’re able.
Stick to Their Schedule
It is best to stick to your host family’s schedule. If they all get up to eat breakfast together, you should also get up to join in for that time. This goes for all similar activities as well, such as family dinners, game nights, etc. It is important to make these times, as it helps build bonds with your host family and helps you learn about the culture.
Of course, there will be times when you may have different activities or school projects, but make sure to communicate when you cannot make it.
Tell Them About Your Culture
As mentioned above, your host family is interested in you as well. They want to know about your culture, your family back home, your favorite traditions, and more. This helps them to learn more and understand you better.
Plus, it is also great for developing bonds between you and your host family.
Ask About Things You Don’t Understand
This aligns somewhat with the point about communication above, but don’t be afraid to ask about things you don’t know. Your new location likely has a lot of differences from your home country, such as outlets, appliances, and other equipment. Trying to figure it out yourself could result in difficulties, injury, or breaking something. Instead, just ask if you are unsure.
Your host family knows that you will be experiencing new things and will happily answer your questions or show you how to use something.
Ready to Begin Your Homestay Journey?
If you are looking to study abroad through homestay, StudentRoomStay can help. You have likely seen many homestay agencies online, but our track record has made us the most recognized service provider for international students.
Our homestay packages include housing, meals, and utilities so that you can focus on your studies. We offer packages for high school and college students, which also include:
High School Students
SRS packages for high schoolers include:
- Guardianship
- School transportation
- Daily meals
- Monthly check-in
- SRS premium support
- Everything in SRS Pro+
College Students
Our homestay services for college students offer the following:
- A vetted family
- An SRS international app
- SRS support
- Pre-arrival information
- Host information
- Check-in protection
Our goal is to ensure that you stay with a good match in a host and are happy throughout your whole stay. For more information, contact us or click here to get started! We look forward to helping you start this exciting journey.
