Homestay Language in Action (20hrs activities)

Teacher was knowledgeable, organized and receptive to my suggestion. Excellent home cooked meals. Well maintained, super clean apartment. Location was Monte Sacro, about one hour public bus trip to Rome historical center, as I expected, based on my previous calculations via Google maps. I decided to accept this offer because it was better than the previous ones and I love Rome. Excellent activities.

My experience was a mixed bag for sure.

Regarding language acquisition, I knew exactly what I wanted and I was able to get that from the two tutors. I am perhaps a more advanced speaker than usual, so the initial exercises and vocabulary were inadequate for me, but they responded well with my requirements of subject and activity. They were generous with their time and my listening and speaking improved a lot in two weeks. They were very nice, even fun. Twice one of the tutors and I went to several churches in Rome for the afternoon instead of "lessons," which was good.

As for location and housing, there is much to say. First, my room was spacious and comfortable. However, I was displacing them from their bedroom. This house had two rooms--their bedroom and a kitchen. A loft bed had been built in the kitchen with no privacy curtain. One of them slept there because his home was far away. The other tutor who owned the house slept somewhere else. The cats slept on the table. There was one bathroom, and one of the tutors spent long periods of time in there watching TV on the computer etc. I had to ask many times if I could go to the bathroom, which l found humiliating. It is also worth noting that the initial information I was sent said they were no longer smokers, but that isn't true. They did not smoke in the house, however. They smoked regular cigarettes, not electronic ones.

Food was a problem. I stated on the first day that I liked a vegetable or salad at each meal. That wasn't happening. Instead of two courses, a meal was one thing: a cutlet (no bread or anything else), a plate of pasta (again, nothing else). Halfway through I contacted the company because my repeated requests weren't heard, and things changed for 3 days only. So, food was a disappointment.

The location is close to transportation, stores, etc. It was an inexpensive and safe neighborhood. It has some trendy bars, cafes, and shops, but there is a lot of garbage in the streets everywhere and almost every building is graffitied.

On the last day ten minutes before I left, I was asked to sign and initial a paper with the hours and content of lessons and my satisfaction level. This paper explicitly said that it was meant for me to sign on a daily basis. I did not know it existed until it was presented to me at the last minute. The agency did not tell me in advance about that, which is too bad because then I could have kept track myself. As it was, I had no time to take a good look at was written, and I had two people standing over me while I looked at it.