2024 Host Family of the Year
🥇 The Manthei Family
My name is Tina, I come from France, and I have to tell you about my host parents, named Adam and Lauren, who have a huge place in my heart today. I’ve been living with them for almost 6 months in Indio, California. We will be moving to Gilbert, Arizona together in early January and I have rarely felt more comfortable, supported and understood than being with them.
Our first call was in December 2022, following this call, I immediately felt an inexplicable feeling, as if I had known them for years. We laughed so much, we discovered enormous things in common, we communicated every day via WhatsApp, as if I was already part of their family. I immediately liked them. I was lucky to have been chosen among other girls who would have liked to be in my place.
Lauren and Adam have two boys, aged 3 years and 7 months, I love them so much, I consider them my little brothers and consider me their big sister.
In 5 months, I had the chance to travel with them, discover their culture, their habits, meet their family, their friends. I was also able to teach them my culture, French culture, which they greatly appreciate. I also cook them typically French dishes, teach them the language, and that is priceless.
I feel loved here, so much so that I consider them my own family. Lauren and Adam do everything to make me feel good, happy where I am, and will be there to help me if I have any problems, which makes them the best family.
Lauren and Adam deserve to be the Host Family of the Year because they have a huge heart, a personality that I can’t describe, they make me happy every day, they make me laugh so much that sometimes I have trouble breathing. They help me orient myself regarding my future, my future professional life, we share a lot of activities together, we go to the gym together, we go on vacation together, make the Christmas tree together. They exude a warmth and joy of life that automatically makes me want to continue and keep them by my side forever.
Being able to help them, love them and thank them for everything as well as everything I experience at only the age of 20, is the thing that makes me the most proud today. Being part of their daily life and the most beautiful gift that life could give.