Host family

Your host family is a big part of your year abroad. You should keep in mind that they put aside a lot of time for you. They also put a lot of effort into making your exchange year as good as possible.

Most host families do it because they are interested in learning about other countries and cultures. Be prepared to share yours! They are also responsible for you during your stay; therefore you must follow their rules. You might be surprised to be told you have a curfew (when you must be home) when that is not something you have back home. Most likely a lot of other things will be different as well. The only thing to do is get used to it. This adjustment is pretty easy for most exchange students, but not for all. One of the secrets is to talk about things. If you have a problem, say so! Little problems which can be easily fixed can turn into big ones if no one knows they are there.

You should be aware that you can change host families, but this should be a very last resort. Try and work out problems; use your organization’s representative to help. That’s what he or she is there for. But, if you really feel it’s not working, and everyone has tried, don’t be afraid to ask for a change.

What to read next:

Parent information

When your own child is about to go away for a whole year, everything is about the exchange student, it isn’t many that think that it is an incredibly large difference for the parents.

Rules

As an exchange student in a new country you will have to adjust to a whole new and different things like culture and rules.

Homesick

Everyone exchange student will get homsick, more or less. It is completly normal and nothing weird for an exchange student to get homesick.

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