When making plans to study abroad, there are a massive amount of decisions to be made.Do you need a visa? Should you get a phone? Which country should you study in? Will the toilet flush clockwise or counter-clockwise in this country? Aisle or window seat . because, on an airplane, middle isn’t really an option.

One of the things that I spent a lot of time thinking about was whether I should get an apartment or a home-stay.

The basic argument is that with a home-stay, you give up freedom but you have more contact with the language and the culture.

They are usually cheaper and sometimes they include meals. For instance, my home-stay is only $300 cheaper (over a five-month period) than if I got an apartment, but the family is supposed to provide two meals per day from Monday to Friday.

The benefit of privacy cannot be overrated, but my minor is Spanish and I will not get a shot at this kind of immersion again. The choice wasn’t easy but the decision was obvious.

The first day with my Argentine family, the mom brought me a list of 10 rules to follow in the house. No. 1 was: “The guest shall not smoke, drink or have sex in the apartment.”

I know that this wasn’t open mic night, but two of those were really funny and one of them just was not going to work out. I don’t even remember the other nine commandments.

Just know that if you choose an apartment, you will probably be lonely and have a strange roommate.

If you get a home-stay, you will save money and the family will be much like your own crazy-ass family.

It is late as I write this, but I cannot get over the argument that I was just thrust into about some overcooked beef and mashed pumpkin.

It was quite the drama. I thought that I was going to have to call the embassy. It was a moment of complete madness (maybe an evening with several strange moments) but those are the stories that really make the trip.

Sure, everybody wants to know if the beer there is good or not, but everybody really wants to know about the time a 60-year-old man hit on you at a bar.

The food was good, or bland. Maybe it tasted like the smell of a cattle farm . but what about the time your home-stay mom went off her rocker because you mistook her son’s lunch for your dinner?

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