Blog: I will never forget Brad and Claire

I am very happy to live with the most beautiful and smart people in the world. During my homestay, my host parents always shared lots of different interesting things with me – like cooking together on Sunday mornings. This makes me feel like I’m part of the family and I can feel their concern and support for me – which in my opinion is the moost important thing for living abroad. It makes being away from my home and my family a little easier – because I know Brad and Claire are here for me.

I will never forget Brad and Claire, I hope I can keep in touch with them – like friends, like family.

Regardless of my difficulties in life or with my learning, Brad and Claire have been very helpful to me. For example, when I have trouble learning, Brad tells me to not treat it as an annoyance but as a challenge.

I think international students living with homestay families can better understand life in Australia, improve their language skills faster (and have a better understanding of conversational English – which helps!) and it helps us adapt to the new environment a lot better. If my friends or relatives considered studying abroad, I would highly recommend that they stay in homestay.

For people thinking about being homestay hosts, I would suggest that you make sure you understand the rules for your students, and understand that your students won’t know much about life in Australia (like public transport, safety in the community, cultural differences etc). Encouraging, caring for and supporting your students will help them get so much more out of their time with you and hopefully you’ll create a strong bond!