Here are several testimonials from hosts in the Solana Beach Host Family Program
My experience of being a “host family” was so much more than just picking up 2 students from the airport and having them sleep in our guest house.
Carlo and Ahmed became a really special part of our family. We loved the conversations we had and enjoyed learning about their culture and their lives. We loved sharing our faith, country, holidays and the things that make us all alike. I know that we will always care about them and hope to see them again someday. To say that they enriched our lives is an understatement!
We were blessed…….
Sincerely,
The Mossy Family
The Solana Beach Host Family program gives us a yearly opportunity to
"give back" to international students who now face many of the
situations we encounter when we travel abroad. Nicola and I have hosted
students since 1995. These "hostings" add such a wonderful & rich fabric
to our lives here in San Diego. We stay in touch with many of the
students we have enjoyed getting to know over all these years and we
expect many of them will be in our lives forever. Our lives would not be
the same without the host family program. Please contact us if you are
considering becoming a host family for the first time - we would be
happy to talk with you.
Here is a general view of what we've provided over the last few years:
√ Contact with the student via email and phone (if needed) many weeks
prior to their arrival.
√ Explain clearly about American domestic airlines and the lack of
food on domestic flights.
√ Arrange for pick up at bus/train station or airport. Make a welcome
sign with student's name on it.
√ Provide them with their own bedroom for 3 - or more days depending on
the need.
√ Get them to UCSD for International Center orientations.
√ Go over some odd American/English expressions: "How are you?" - "Give
me a call." "Have a good day." "Have a good one." Etc.
√ Time permitting - give them a car tour of San Diego.
√ We coordinate transportation and dinners with nearby hosts & their
students during that first week and beyond.
√ Take students shopping near UCSD so they know what shops are near the
campus.
√ Make sure they have bedding and ? for their housing.
√ We give them a list of 100 films that best express the American
experience.
√ Help them find a suitable cell phone and bank for their needs.
√ We make sure they notify their family that they have arrived in San
Diego. (Using our phone and internet if needed)
√ Give them some beach/patio time to recover from the stress and long
journey to get to San Diego.
√ We have them help us make dinners and do some food shopping.
√ Help them move into their apartment.
√ We tend to stay in close touch during those first few weeks of classes.
√ Invite them back to the house for holidays, birthdays, a quiet weekend
for studying and such. We also invite their roommates to join us.
√ Meet their the student's visiting parents! What a joy.
Ron and Nicole Ranson
We have been host family volunteers both here and in New England, and have hosted students from Mexico, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey and China. These experiences (as brief as a few days and as long as 6 months) have been genuinely rewarding for us. We've always felt we received far more than we gave as we have welcomed young people at the most exciting and forward-looking time in their lives, helped them adjust to American ways, foods, customs, and sometimes language. The Solana Beach Host Family affiliation has been one of the best, with a good, supportive network of people likewise committed to welcoming students into our homes and communities. Being a host family is one of the most positive and surely one of the most enjoyable ways to make a helpful contribution to the world.
John and Mary Benbow
Having been a host family for the past four years has been such a rewarding experience for our entire family. We have come to love each one of our “UCSD daughters” and miss them all now that they have gone back to their home countries.
From the time we are matched in the summer, through picking them up at the airport and going shopping for school supplies and cell phones to spending holidays together and introducing them to the American way of life it really is a great time for us as a family to show American hospitality and make memories with our new friends from around the world. Our three teenage daughters take great pride when our students attend their school events as part of our family and think of these UCSD students sort of as “big sisters”.
We still keep in touch regularly with our past 5 students and will be visiting two of them later this year when they both get the chance to show us their home countries. I hope when my daughters are in college studying abroad we can find a program for them to link up with like the Solana Beach Host Family Program!
Susan Doshier