“My homestay was an absolutely amazing experience that I will cherish and remember forever. If I were to describe my homestay in one word, I would say “new”. It was a new environment for me to live in as well as a new feeling that I have never had before. I am an only child so I had no idea what having a sister would be like, let alone 2 sisters. They were the most caring sisters! I usually call my closest friends my sisters since I don’t have any but now I can really say that I have sisters! I got 2 new sisters to make memories with. The second thing was having a mom and a dad. My experience with my family was completely different from my host family. I got to have sit-down dinners with them. I was carefree and just soaked in all the laughs and smiles. I also developed a new feeling. When leaving them to go back to Seoul, I felt so much pain rush through me, my heart hurt. I found 4 more people to love. Gieun, Jieun, and my host mom and dad.” –Lily
“For me, the homestay was definitely one of the best parts of the trip, if not the best part. It was really fun to meet my host sisters and become really close friends with them. At the homestay, I was finally able to experience what it’s like to live in Korea as a person who is the same age as me and who is also in high school. It was also pretty amazing to go out with my host family or my older host sister and her friends and just walk around and really take in the fact that I really am in Korea. I enjoyed going out with the group during the day. We went to places like Daegumgol Cave or to AquaWorld. During that time our group also shared the experiences we had with our homestay families. Then we were able to return home and immerse ourselves in a completely different culture again. Personally, becoming close friends with my host sister is something that I consider to be the highlight of this trip here in Korea. Even though I was nervous about the homestay at first, I definitely don’t regret a single thing about it.” –Emmy
“My homestay family took me in with open arms and showed me a way of life so different than my own. My family lives in Doksan which is the country and about 20 minutes outside of Samcheok. One of the highlights from my homestay experience was when I was invited to ‘teach’ my host sister’s English class at her school. It was such an incredible and educational experience to see their daily lives and activities at school and then compare it to my own. They were able to ask me a bunch of questions to learn about American culture and life as a teenager and I was very grateful to be able to swap information and experiences. It is a memory I will always cherish and keep with me when looking back on my experience in Korea.” -Cece
