NWSE Blog

Christmas Explained

Dec 18 2017

It’s December, and that means it’s the holiday season in the United States! The holiday season can mean different things to different people and communities across the country. While some Americans prefer to celebrate the winter season in general or nothing at all, December brings several important cultural holidays, including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.  Regardless of what you celebrate this … Read More »

Can language change the way we think?

Nov 14 2017

Have you ever been sitting in your language class and wondering why some words in your native language cannot be directly translated to the language that you are learning? Why does it seem that one language represents the same idea differently than another? Linguists throughout history have been interested in this very question. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf studied … Read More »

“What I like the best about America is the people…School is really different, very social and not so strict, I love it. How Americans celebrate the holidays has been very surprising…very different…I…

Vivien from Germany

“[My host family and I] had directly a good connection to each other. I feel now I have another family in America… We had a great relationship with a lot…

Lisa from Germany

“This was our first experience. Everything went very smoothly for us. My husband, who was pretty nervous about the whole idea [of hosting], loved the experience. He texted me the…

Laurie and Glenn from Montana, USA

“Every person I’ve met here in some way made me think better about myself. And this, I must say, is my biggest impression here. That anytime you talk to somebody –…

Arina from Russia
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