Tufts Blogs

When my Civic Semester cohort first moved into our homestays, I was nervous and unsure of what to expect. I wanted to be close with my host mom, but I knew that would take some time. When I arrived at my home, my host mom immediately welcomed me and showed me to my room. My room was perfect; it had a desk so I could do homework at night and was super spacious, so I often had my friends come by to hang out.

Additionally, the house had a front porch where, if the weather permitted, I would do work or play Uno with my friends in the cohort or my host mom. There was a small kitchen in the house, but most of the time I would help my host mom cook in her outdoor kitchen, which was really nice.

That first day, my host mom set up a barbecue for dinner, where she piled on pork and chicken for us to eat with lots of vegetables. After the first couple of days, I got used to communicating in other ways besides talking because, at the very beginning of the semester, my Thai was not very conversational. Instead, I would nod my head a lot or try Google Translate, which would sometimes help deliver the gist of what I was saying. However, because my host mom only spoke Thai, it forced me to use my Thai, which helped me become so much better and more comfortable speaking Thai to others and also being okay with making mistakes. I also got used to the awkward moments where I was unsure of what to say, or my host mom would say something, and I didn’t understand. Though those moments can be hard in the beginning, you learn to be okay with them because that is part of the learning experience.

My homestay experience was better than what I could have ever asked for. On the weekends, my host mom would take me to the market, where we would eat breakfast and then walk around while she got her groceries for the week. She would always stop at every stall and ask me if I wanted anything, but I was always so full from breakfast that I would say no. In my opinion, my host mom was the best cook, and for me, that was a great opportunity to jump in and help because it also helped me learn Thai and traditional Northern Thai cuisine.

I cooked so much with my host mom that I made a recipe book so I could cook her recipes back home, though I know they will never taste as good as her cooking. If there is an opportunity to go on a trip that has homestays, I would recommend it wholeheartedly, because for me, my host mom truly made my experience in Thailand.