Having the opportunity to travel to Europe, and see Barcelona and Paris was a dream come true for me. So, in April of 2018, I went with my high school and we all stayed with host families who had volunteered to keep us for the 4 days that we were in each destination.
While in Barcelona, my best friend and I stayed with an incredibly sweet older woman, but in Paris, we had a little bit different experience. Neither I nor my best friend spoke French and our host family did not speak English so that made things much more difficult.
It started out with us walking through the door and immediately being told to go sit in our rooms and be quiet until dinner was ready. This should have been a warning sign for us, but at this point, I was still optimistic and determined to have a good time. Over the course of the next for days, we were limited to the confines of our room and fed from the same pot of leftover goulash every night, while my other classmates were having a great time.
Overall, my traveling experience was fantastic, and I was able to do so many fun things in both places, but that fact that we were not treated with respect by our host family did not help matters. When traveling, it is important to know what you are getting into. Although, in the end we made the best out of our trip and still had a fantastic time enjoying cultures we were not familiar with.