Choosing to stay with a host-family is a great way to make your educational trip even more immersive. You get to experience culture from the locals right in the comfort of their home. Do you love the idea of home cooked meals, friendly local families and feeling at home away from home? If so, a homestay immersion program is perfect for you.

What's great is that we offer a ton of homestay opportunities in Spain, Peru, Costa Rica, France, Québec, and China! Here are just some reasons why Homestays are the best immersion programs. Culturally immersive Staying with a host family is a great way to connect and learn more about the country's culture; you also alleviate any worries of doing something out of the norm or not customary in public. A homestay offers travellers like yourself a more authentic experience and an opportunity to truly immerse yourself in the culture even further. A host family experience is raw and genuine as you're surrounded by everyday people who want to share their traditions and stories with you. Feel less homesick Falling homesick is inevitable when travelling abroad; especially somewhere culturally foreign to you. You start to miss your friends, family and feel as if you're missing out on all the major family events and holidays. This can lead to falling into culture shock and barricade any feelings of enjoying your stay because you're too preoccupied with thoughts of back home. Staying with a host family can help with these feelings as the familiar family atmosphere is present. By attending family dinners, celebrating birthdays or cultural holidays; a host-family can really make the transition a lot easier than you'd think. They may do things a little differently than what you're used to but the sense of family and traditions is prevalent. Saves you money If you're on a budget - opting for a homestay is a real money-saver. Apart from the overall cost being relatively cheaper than a luxury hotel; host family homes are usually stocked with all the bare necessities such as toiletries, extra bedding etc. Another major money saver and a cultural benefit are the home cooked meals! Although all of these things don't seem that costly at first; in retrospect, they do add up causing you to be a bit more frugal about going out to dinner with your classmates. Staying at a homestay lets you save more for pocket change - home-cooked meals mean munching on something authentic and delicious! Improves your language skills Staying at an international hotel with a bilingual staff sometimes makes travellers comfortably resort to speaking English rather than trying to speak the native language. There's no better way to improve your language skills than by living with the locals. While your host-family might speak a bit of English, don't use that as a crutch - practice speaking Spanish as your family will be more than happy to help you out. Besides, practicing with your host-family in a judgment-free zone will make you less intimidated and nervous to speak around town with other locals. Builds strong friendships A host-family becomes your second family, you're welcomed into their home which soon becomes your home too. Sharing personal stories over family dinners about the different cultural traditions you and your family practice back home, to learning new Spanish words every day - the bond that grows is inevitable when staying with a local family.