Category Stories: Family Matters
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5 Things You Should Know About Living With a Host
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While the idea of living with an unknown family in a remote country may sound frightening at first, it can become an amazing experience and create a memorable study abroad journey. Like most people, I had nerves about my homestay since I would be living with the family for a long period. These nerves continued…
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5 Ways to Get More From Study Abroad
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IFSA students share their game-changing advice for others heading off for new experiences. Start on the Right Foot “Don’t miss out on the orientation events that will be going on in the first days and weeks of the program,” says Shane C., who studied at London’s University of Westminster. “It’s a great way to learn some important information as…
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Keeping Connected Across the Pond
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Keeping Connected Across the Pond One of the most difficult aspects of studying abroad is the distance between you and your loved ones. On a typical semester at my home university I was usually able to visit home at least once every month or so. My family is a very important part of my life,…
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Scotts and Greek Thracians
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Discovering Similarities between the Scottish Past and My Own wile Studying Abroad Dishes Not Meant for the Faint Hearted My very first stroll around Edinburgh felt familiar. It happened on a random Sunday, in the middle of September, on a fittingly gloomy afternoon. While exploring Old Town, I came across a local pub and, as…
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Putting the “Casa” in Casa Particular
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I opened the heavy wooden door of Mama Emma and Papa Vega’s house in Havana’s tree-lined Vedado district with two suitcases in my hands and no idea what to expect. Mama Emma smiled when she saw my oversized suitcases stuffed to the brim and said “No tefalta nada” (You’re not missing anything)! After being greeted with a hug…
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“Mi mamá chilena:” Living with a Host Family While Abroad
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Cooking with mi mamá chilena During Fall 2019, I traveled to Santiago, Chile – a city of 7-million people in a part of the world that spoke a language I wasn’t used to speaking. As a lifelong small-town dweller who had never practiced Spanish in a conversational setting, I was nervous about how I could…
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Mañanas Con Gumer
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Living in Lima, Peru for the fall of 2019, I stayed with a host family – la familia Saco-Vertiz – in the district of Miraflores. Living in the apartment were Maritza (my madre anfitriona), her brother Miguel, her adult son Alejandro, and Gumer, their cocinera, who felt much more like another member of the family. Huevos Revueltos In the…
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Thriving Abroad Despite Adversity at Home
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I’m used to moving around. I grew up in London and then left for college in California when I was 18, at which point my parents moved to the east coast of the US. It was a difficult transition and the situation at home (wherever that was) wasn’t always easy, but I adapted and grew…
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So You’ve Chosen to Study in England: A Guide to Picking a Uni
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3 Pros to Ditching The “Big City” Life: UK Edition Note to the reader: Picking a studying abroad program is all about personal preference. Every country and city has something unique to offer every individual. I spent a year and a half searching the internet and various leaflets until I decided on IFSA and then Leeds.…
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Learning to Live Independently from Home
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Freshman Year When I made the decision to study abroad I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy transition. I am a homebody who has never lived more than a few hours away from my family. My first few weeks at college back home were spent calling home basically every free minute I had.…
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