European Union Program
Living Arrangements
The European Union Program offers students the opportunity to learn more about Europe by living with a Belgian host family. Each student has his or her own room in a Belgian home in one of three housing arrangements:
- Homestays: Students take all of their breakfasts and dinners with the host family
- Semi-Homestays: Students take all of their breakfasts and three dinners per week with the host family
- Boarder: Students take no meals with the homestay family.
In all three arrangements, students are free to come and go as they please. Although students are required to follow some rules of common courtesy, no family will require a student to adhere to a curfew or restrict a student’s ability to come and go. Students are free to have as much or as little interaction with the family as they choose.
By living with a Belgian family, students gain a special insight into how Europeans live and what they think about the issues studied in the program. The host families also provide excellent opportunities to improve a student’s foreign language skills, should the student wish to do so. However, there are many families that speak English so foreign language skills are not required for living with a host family.
To participate in the European Union Program, students are not obligated to use the host family living arrangement. Students remain free to find their own housing if they so choose. However, American University’s Brussels Center cannot assist students in finding independent living arrangements.