A Day in the Life—Family Boarding Homestay Student Julio

The GNS Family Boarding homestay program is incredibly unique, with international students hosted by current school families or staff. As boarding students, they are able to immerse themselves in English, learn about different cultures directly and have an excellent experience attending GNS and living in Canada.

Julio is a GNS student in Grade 11 and is from Mexico. Here, he walks us through a day in his life, explaining what being a family boarding student is like.

Mornings

“I wake up every day at 6:20 a.m. and I take the school bus to school. My host family has a son who is in my grade, so I always walk with him to the bus stop, which is a five-minute walk and the bus drops us off at school. I live about a 20 minute bus ride from school. I usually pack my breakfast, yogurt with fruit, so that I can eat quickly at the first break.”

School Day

“My favourite subject is Chemistry, I like it a lot. I also enjoy taking Pre-Calculus. Math is something I didn’t like before coming here, but Mr. Irvine is a great teacher. Everyone has told me that my English has improved a lot since being here.”

“I didn’t know how to speak French when I came here, so I have been taking lessons outside of school, but also my teachers have taught me a lot in class. I’m taking IB French SL (which is very impressive for a beginner! Julio is a course candidate in the IB Diploma Programme) which is very difficult, but now I enjoy speaking French and writing French.”

Lunchtime

“I always eat lunch at school. I buy it from the Dining Hall. I have been attending the Round Square meetings. I also want to try a new sport before I graduate. Next year I want to join the volleyball team.”

After School

“My host parents come to pick me up after school to go to our house. I go to the gym and sometimes swim because there is a recreation centre with a pool nearby and my host family included me in their family pass.”

“My host family eats dinner together as a family and we eat a large variety of foods. I’ve tried poutine here and other Canadian dishes. Sometimes we have pasta, ramen, tacos—it is so nice that they make tacos for me because I come from Mexico. Every Thursday we have delicious Russian food because my host mom is from Russia. I really enjoy butter chicken, it was new to me when I came to Canada.”

“We also have been to different restaurants in Victoria, and I’ve tried lots of new international food, like Spanish, Mexican, Chinese and Japanese food (and here the Japanese food is so good with fresh seafood). The big difference is that in Mexico we have dinner at 8 or 9 p.m. and in Canada we eat earlier, at 6 p.m. or even 5:30.”

Weekends

“Every Sunday, I go to the supermarket with my host dad and we choose all the food for the meal rotation of the week. Also on Fridays or Saturdays, I have been connecting a lot with my friends from GNS. We hang out, we go to a restaurant, to a cafe, to a friend’s house or sometimes to the mall. My host mom is also always investigating cultural things that are happening in Victoria and interesting things, so sometimes we go to festivals and things.”

“The family boarding program is a really great opportunity to stay with a family and get the Canadian experience and it’s something that I’ve really been enjoying.” 

Thank you for sharing your experience with us Julio! You can learn more about this unique boarding school model at GNS here: The Family Boarding Homestay Program.