艾克斯: 家庭寄宿 Away from Home

After spending the past two years choosing a study abroad program in 艾克斯 that fit with my schedule, it was time to choose housing. I considered an apartment with other students, as I knew it would come with more social interactions and chances to make friends, but my ultimate desire to become fluent in French drove my decision to a homestay. I had all the normal nerves: what if I don’t like my 寄宿家庭’s cooking, or what if it’s just not the right fit, 或者如果他们不喜欢我怎么办? These nerves increased upon arriving when I learned that I was only one of two students in the program who elected to do a homestay. Yet these nerves were stifled within minutes of my host-mom picking me up from the bus station; she welcomed me into her home with open arms and has continued to do so. 

I live with a woman and her 13-year-old daughter (and their two cats: Toulouse and Berlioz— "Aristocats,“任何??). My host-mom and her daughter are both super easy to talk to and often help me with my French skills. My apartment is ideally situated at about a 10-15-minute walk from le centre-ville, and about a 20-minute walk from school. It is also close to the bus station and to parks, which makes traveling and exercising a lot easier. 我有 enjoyed being outside the city, as it gives me a new area to explore that others may otherwise never visit. +, having to learn to walk through the winding streets of Aix allowed me to get a better understanding of the city! 我有 a private room and share a bathroom with both my host-mom and host-sister. My room is perfect for what I need: there’s a bed with sheets that are changed every week (far more than what I do at home…), 用来做作业的桌子, and plenty of shelves and drawers for storage. An added bonus are the big doors and balcony that I love to open on nice days. 

From her delicious cooking to her advice on cultural and social norms to her taking me to local events as well as to her parents' village for lunch, my host-mom has been just incredible. My French skills have also improved drastically: I asked to only be spoken to in French, and while there have been some bumps in the road, 我对奋斗心怀感激. 我有, 仅仅一个月之后, 开始用法语思考和做梦, which is something that my past nine years of study of the language could never do! 更重要的是, I am simply more confident in my abilities to speak French to locals and it has paid off — I am more frequently getting thought of as French rather than the American that I am, 哪一个是主要的自信助推器!

There’s nothing that I would change about my experience thus far, and I cannot recommend a homestay enough! It is the best way to fully learn a language and a culture for the short time that we are here. 现在, the situation is reversed: some of my CEA peers in apartments are envious of my daily meals and trips with my 寄宿家庭!

Alison Chilcott is a CEA Content Contributor studying abroad in 艾克斯, 法国, 2019年秋季学期. She is currently a student at the University of Pittsburgh.