Day 1-2: How to Tame the Frazzled American College Student

Okay, Host Family! You have just received your College Student from the airport and you notice, well, it’s looking a bit rough around the edges. This is to be expected. Many College Students coming to foreign countries had to take a long trip to get there. (Model KAT has Too Many Hours to Count: Trip from CHI to NYJFK, Layover, and Trip from NYJFK to MXP.)

Here are some tips to tame your frazzled College Student:

1) Accept your College Student’s inability to form coherent sentences. This is especially important when the College Student is coming to a country where the native language is not its own. Exhaustion, frayed nerves, and shock all contribute to its inability to manage language. If the College Student is unintelligible, do not hesitate to tell it that it is not making a lick of sense. Ask it to repeat itself if necessary. Accept any stammered, fragmentary sentences and hand gestures if need be. Do not worry. As the College Student gets more accustomed to its new home, it will gain its ability to use language.

2) Accept your College Student’s inability to understand. As with tip one, the aspect of native language and exhaustion/shock/nerves will play into this. Host Family, try your best. Use simple sentences, phrases, and words. Use hand gestures. Repeat and rephrase yourself. Once again, do not worry. The College Student will regain its ability to understand.

3) Explain everything. Tell your College Student where you are going when you go anywhere. When you arrive at your home, give your College Student a tour. It may forget where some things are, but important bits (bathroom, kitchen, and its own room) may stick in its mind. Explain what you are doing for the day. If you have many family members, make sure to always use names so the College Student will remember who is who.

4) Feed and water your College Student. Some College Students may refuse at that precise moment because of the dreaded Jet Lag, but its hunger and thirst will return. If possible, give it options so it knows that its preferences are accepted and welcomed by you.

5) Give your College Student some time to itself. It will need the time to try to overcome the shock and exhaustion from its trip. The amount of time will depend on the trip and your Model of College Student. (Model KAT only needs time to Unpack and Wash before it will seek out your attention again.)

Easy! Your College Student will be a functioning Model soon enough. Take care!

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Okay, really. My host family is awesome and wonderful and is following all of the tips to the letter. I’m still stumbling over the language barrier, but that’s to be expected. Pictures (of food, house, food, school, food, town, and FOOD) will come once I get enough energy to actually deal with technology more advanced than a word document.