One of my greatest hesitations upon applying to my study abroad program was the idea of staying with a host family. Though I recognized that it would be the best way to improve my language skills and come to understand the French culture, I simply could not bring myself to look forward to moving in with a random family for five months. I met my host family three days after arriving in Paris and it has been a constant adventure since.
I live in a gorgeous and classically-Haussmann apartment in the 17th arrondissement, with a delightfully bizarre French family. My host mother works as a school teacher and is fantastic at explaining French culture and language when I become confused every few minutes during dinner conversation. My host father owns an antique toy store and behaves exactly as a grown man who owns a toy store ought to. It is more common for students to live with their parents during or after university, and so I live with three host brothers in their early twenties who have taught me all the important slang, cultural references, movies, and snack foods I should regularly consume to be considered a true Parisian. Moreover, my host family has been hosting students from around the world for almost a decade and they are complete champions of the process. They invite me to outings and museum exhibits with them, but also give me the leeway to make my own dinner schedule and come-and-go as I please. In many respects I am that extra girl - or 'notre américainne' as my host father says - who hangs out and eats dinner with them, but they've done an excellent job of making me feel welcome.
I am grateful for the experience and know that my French has improved so much more than it would had I lived anywhere else in Paris. We do not spend an enormous amount of time together, and honestly it has been an adjustment to go from living alone or in dorm rooms to a five-person apartment, but their consideration is sweet. Though I always recommend preserving the peace within your host family, I know that my host family is generally much more socially conservative than me and we are able to have conversations about their views on certain pressing political issues in France (the war in Mali, and the legalization of gay marriage/adoption rights to name a few). There are moments when I am not quite sure what is culturally French and what is particular to my host family, but I have always felt appreciated and engaged with their family life. Before moving here it is difficult to understand what would prompt a family to open their doors and refrigerator to a relative stranger for half a year, but I can now understand the desire to pay it forward, culturally speaking, and engage with students from all over the world as they try to learn and appreciate your culture.
I am shown off to visiting family and friends, go to the movies with my host brothers whenever I can, watch the news with them before dinner, and complain about Paris' disgustingly long winter with them each night. I'm the extra girl in a French family of five, but it has been a surprisingly comfortable experience and I have met people I hope to maintain contact with even back in the states. We compare cultures, I receive lectures about football and rugby, I ask silly questions about the French university system, and we swap favorite foods. Should any of them visit Washington D.C., they are forever welcome on my couch and in my mini-fridge, though only if they eventually acknowledge that peanut butter is actually delicious. To anyone looking into a home stay in the future, I recommend giving it a try as you'll never understand a culture better (or eat better) than by living with a family. It can be unnerving to stay the least, but they have made my time in Paris a thousand times more entertaining and active.