CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Ilenia is from Italy and decided to take on a new way of learning by living with her temporary family right here in the Coastal Bend. As she wraps up the school year and heads back home, she shares advice for those looking to become a host family.
"Try to be like really understandable, that they come from like a different family, so they always had like different rules their whole life," Ilenia said.
The Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE) serves more than 10,000 study abroad students each year.
Local coordinator Emilia Allen, told 3NEWS that Corpus Christi is growing as a target destination for many of these students.
"Everybody that I mostly talk to says, 'Oh, I've met a foreign exchange student before,' or "Oh, my neighbors were foreign exchange students,'" Allen said. "So I would say it is pretty common than other cities."
The council said it is also seeing a growth in more parents wanting to become host families because they want to help the students with their education, but also as a learning opportunity for the family as a whole.
"We just thought it would be a really cool opportunity to stay connected to my ancestry and homeland," Ilenia's host mother said. "My family is from Italy and I thought that hosting a student from Italy would be a really cool way to continue that connection."
We often get caught up in our own way of living that we forget that on the other side of the world, life is completely different. Which is another major factor that encourages host families to show students what the Coastal Bend has to offer.
"Being able to show your exchange student around, you know, your city that you've grown up in all your life and get to experience you know the American culture, the American high school," Ilenia's host father said "So seeing her like go to dances and proms and being able to experience that."
If you're interested in learning more, you can call 956-678-4186.