ITD homestays consist of an international participant staying in the home of a local family willing to go that extra step of opening their door and sharing a wonderful cross-cultural exchange. Many of ITD programs include this component and families often come away with new and continuous friendships across borders. We often hear from homestay families about how much they cherish staying in touch with their guests and even engaging in reciprocal visits to their guests’ home country for a visit. Opening your home to an ITD participant typically includes sharing meals, showing them the area, learning about their culture and traditions and sharing yours.
Host Families
Homestays may range in length anywhere from an overnight to two weeks depending on the program. If you are interested in learning more about the homestay experience and being a part of the ITD network of families and community members, please contact Operations and Facilities Manager, Kaye Sherwood, at kaye@itdamherst.org
My wife and I have been weekend hosts for ITD guests often; we look forward to hearing that a new group is coming to Amherst. Our guests have been from South and Central America as well as the Middle East, and although our guests are grateful and enthusiastic about these cross-cultural weekends, I feel certain that we are the ones who get the most out of these visits. In every case, our guests have been thoughtful, gracious, smart, engaging young people who are as curious about our lives as we are about theirs. We’ve cooked together, walked and hiked in the woods, visited local sites and conversed about our lives and cultures over numerous cups of coffee and tea. What a gift it is to have members of the world community come to us in Amherst and into our homes to share our cultures and customs with one another. Thank you ITD for making this possible.
We all had some great philosophical banter. All in all, a truly wonderful weekend.
We had really interesting conversations about our view of America and were able to draw them out about their real, not just polite, impressions of our country.
