During your stay in Merida, you will live with a local family. This living arrangement will assist your conversational Spanish and provide you with insights into Yucatecan culture. Host families are not motivated by profit when they open their homes to visitors. The $15/day you pay to families is modest. Local people welcome students because they understand that the living experience is one of the outstanding components of this international program. Host families are the "heart" of the program. During the six weeks you spend in Merida, you will be treated as a family member. Families will make every effort to insure that you are safe, comfortable and welcome and they will assist you in any way they can. In return, you should be courteous, helpful and friendly. Remember, you are "ambassadors" from the US and your actions reflect on UF and the US. When you are in public places or visiting friends of your family, your behavior will also reflect on the host family.
Every effort is made to pair each student with an appropriate family. You will be asked to fill out a housing questionnaire and a number of factors will be considered when assigning you a living situation. For instance, some families may have students at home who share your interests or you may have special diet requirements or allergies that certain families are better able to accommodate. Participating families have comfortable homes that will meet all your needs. Although you may be accustomed to air conditioning here in the US, many Merida homes are equipped with ceiling fans and you will soon be acclimated. From the moment your families meet you at the airport, you will be in caring and capable hands. You will probably find home life a little more formal than what you are accustomed to in the US. It is inappropriate to show up for dinner in ragged cutoffs and a dirty t-shirt. Neatness is appreciated. It is difficult to recommend specific guidelines for behavior. Use your good judgment, behave in a friendly manner, and your good cheer will be returned many times over. All phone calls are charged for in Mexico. If you make local phone calls, offer to pay for them. The best option is to purchase phone calling cards and use public phones. If you are calling long distance, call collect or use your credit card to charge the calls and tell your family that you are doing so. If for any reason you have an irreconcilable difference with your host family or discover for instance that you are allergic to the family pet, please contact the course coordinator immediately and we will arrange to have you transferred.
The true test of the seasoned traveler is the ability to deal with local cuisine and bathrooms. Yucatecan food is great and you should encourage your family to provide you with local dishes rather than feed you regular "gringo" fare (check out the pollo pibil, huevos motuleņos, or poc chuc). There are several vegetarian and ethnic (Lebanese, Chinese, Italian) restaurants in town. You will find bathrooms in homes are clean and neat. This is not always the case in the "campo." Even in town, toilet paper is sometimes disposed of in a small bucket rather than in the commode. This prevents clogging of pipes and nasty backup of the sewage system. Your family will probably instruct you on the disposal of your TP. Payment for room and board is handled by the Overseas Studies Office and the University of Yucatan.
Students regularly return to visit their new "families" in the Yucatan and have universal praise for this part of the program.
