This week both the International Business and the Crossing Borders students prepared for their upcoming home stays. First there was a discussion or “training” on what is appropriate at the house, what is culturally acceptable or culturally different, and how maintain interaction with the families. For example food and meals, privacy, noise, greetings, family dynamics, guests and friends, going out, safety and health, bathroom, telephone, student as guest versus family members, humor, mannerisms and ways we carry our bodies and gifts were all topics discussed in the home stay preparation.
After discussing each topic individually people who have been in those certain situations before shared their experiences and what they did in the situation to make it better. One student shared about a bathroom situation where the students were forgetting that it was not good to flush the toilet paper and that signs started popping up reminding the students to throw the paper in the trash bin. Another huge theme that was brought up during this chat was communication. The main topic was that no matter what situation you are in it is always important to remember to communicate in order to feel comfortable in the house. While this talk was extremely helpful in most areas I feel like it failed to express that all situations will be somewhat different and even if you study and prepare yourself based on these examples your situation may be extremely different.
Christina and Marisela facilitate the building of the house of hopes and fears. 
Superior post Hannah! I agree with you that nothing can prepare you for your home stay because every situation is different. I was not nervous for my upcoming experience until after we had our talk about what is to be expected both from the families and from the students. Upon meeting all the families and getting to know them through the games at the initial meeting it was difficult not to notice that each family was in fact different from the next. But it looked like almost everyone was set up with a family that would fit the student’s personalities. These past few weeks in homestays have been a great adventure for me.
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