15 Wild Experiences With Host Families

7.

“I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain. My host family also was incredibly bad. First, no one ever gave me a tour of the host’s sprawling apartment. I lived there for several months before one day I opened a door to find an elderly woman napping in a hospital bed. Apparently, this was the host’s mother, though I was never introduced to her, nor did I even know of her existence! Second, the adult son lived below his mother (my host). I was never introduced to him, but he would come to his mother’s apartment and take long daily showers so he wouldn’t have to pay for his own water. The host then accused me of using up all the water! I resorted to only showering every few days and even then the woman continued to accuse me of using her water. Remember, these people are paid to host foreign students.”

“I was never notified of meal times, the host was never around and never left me notes. She left crackers for my breakfast, which was fine, except the crackers were infested with mealworms. This woman then had the gall to tell me and my university’s study abroad program that I needed to move out because I studied too much in the house and was therefore too expensive because I used her utilities. Again, she was paid to house me! And I had also done at least a month’s worth of traveling around Europe and spent almost every day exploring the city and hanging out at the university. At first, my program sided with her until I chewed them out in what was by then perfect Spanish about all the insanity this lady had inflicted on me. They were mortified. I immediately moved to a different apartment where I was housed by an extremely wonderful elderly lady who was great. I love Sevilla so much, but I wish I had just taken the international student dormitory over a host family.”

—Anonymous