Homestay family
Before arriving in Paris, I was unsure of my decision to live in a homestay. Now that the program is nearly over I cannot imagine what my time here in Paris would have been like had I not lived in a homestay. The concept of a homestay is somewhat strange and daunting at first. People who do not know each other all of the sudden must begin living together. In my case, this resulted in many different people coming together. Apart from myself there was another student from Northwestern originally from Nebraska/Kansas, an art school student from Saudi Arabia who has lived and studied in Malaysia, and our host mother, a French woman whose children have now moved out. The difference in our backgrounds, although from the outside could be seen as a source of discomfort, came to be what resulted in one of the greatest sources of learning for me during my time abroad. At dinner, we would compare the way things were done or thought of in France, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kansas, Chicago, and Peru. We talked about education and healthcare systems in each country, about how women were treated, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and about the politics of each country, among other things. I know that not everybody had such diverse backgrounds come together in their homestay, but to me it seems that the benefits of living together with such different people merits that the homestay experience be greatly encouraged for future students about to study abroad.