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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here in Berlin, I live in what is called a guest or host family. That basically means I\u2019ve chosen to live with a German family instead of staying in the student dorms. Before coming here, we had to write an essay about ourselves, and based on that, the program directors decided which family would be the best match. To be honest, I had been hoping for a family with kids or maybe a pet, but instead, I ended up with a lovely couple in their 50s. And honestly, even though it wasn\u2019t what I pictured at first, it\u2019s still been a good experience.<\/p>\n
Living with a host family is so different from staying in the dorms. I knew that the dorm options here would be full of other American exchange students, which is a great opportunity to make friends, but I was hoping for a more authentic experience. A big reason why I came here was to expand my horizons, and I knew that if I lived with other Americans, it would be way too easy to just stick with them and not step into the German Culture. By living with a German family, I\u2019ve been able to experience the culture on a much deeper level. I\u2019ve gotten to try traditional German foods, watch how daily life flows here, and practice speaking German outside of the classroom. That said, it does make things harder when it comes to making friends within my program. Since I don\u2019t live with them or even really near them, I miss out on some of the casual hangouts or late night bonding that happens in the dorms. Sometimes it feels like I\u2019m missing a piece of the social experience.<\/p>\n
But at the same time, I wouldn\u2019t trade it. The couple I live with are very kind, and they\u2019ve welcomed me into their home. Much like the rest of Germany, they\u2019re very structured people, the type who like things neat and orderly, which was a little frustrating at first because I didn\u2019t know what the right way to do things was. But as time has gone on, I\u2019ve started to feel more comfortable and even more at home.<\/p>\n
My home is in Schlachtensee, a suburb on the edge of Berlin, and it\u2019s absolutely beautiful. I don\u2019t live in the hustle and bustle of central Berlin, which sometimes makes me feel like I\u2019m a bit removed, but it also has its perks. Right near my house, there\u2019s this gorgeous lake where I can walk around or go swimming when the weather is nice. The picture I have here is the restaurant, The Big Pan. I live on the top floor of the apartments in the building behind the restaurant. It is a tiny apartment, but it\u2019s decorated so adorably. I even have my own room, which is nice and cozy.<\/p>\n
Another plus of living with a host family is that they feed you breakfast and dinner. And it\u2019s good food at that! The dorm option here leaves you responsible for all your meals. And, your host family\u2019s got your back on the small stuff. One day, it was raining, and my host mom offered me an umbrella. It\u2019s the little things that are making this a much more personable experience than the dorms would have been.<\/p>\n
The only downside is the commute. I live about 50 minutes away from school. Every morning, I walk to the station and hop on the S1 train. That ride takes around 15 minutes, and then I transfer to a bus for the rest of the trip. At first, I really dreaded the idea of spending that much time commuting every day. But now, I\u2019ve grown to enjoy it. Germans don\u2019t really talk much on public transportation, which is so different from America, but I quite like the silence. I\u2019ll use that time to relax, wind down, reflect on my day, sometimes I journal, and I\u2019ve even read a few books!<\/p>\n
So even though I might miss out on some of the dorm life experiences, I feel like I\u2019ve gained something equally valuable. Living with a host family had given me a deeper look into the culture and pushed me out of the bubble I might have stayed in otherwise. I\u2019ve learned to make a few German dishes, gone to some neighborhood events, and found a new home on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here in Berlin, I live in what is called a guest or host family. That basically means I\u2019ve chosen to live with a German family instead of staying in the student dorms. Before coming here, we had to write an essay about ourselves, and based on that, the program directors decided which family would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Lhdr-Bd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2307"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}