Hello, this is Mosquito speaking. I am so happy that I was selected to be one of the members of exchange program.

In the past 21 days in Melbourne, I have learned a lot during class time – small talk, presentation skills, personal brand development and so on. After class, I spent my time in visiting the Melbourne city and tried to do something I have never done it before.

I think that lots of students in the program will talk about the things in Melbourne, or the study, the experience how we studied with the Japanese student and travel in detail. So now I want to talk about one of the most important part in Melbourne - HOMESTAY. I stay with my homestay mom and her son in these three weeks. My “mom” Mariah is 41 years old and she loves hair dressing and drawing. My “brother” Dylan is a student and he loves playing computer games.

Based on this situation, there are threes things I want to talk about my experience. Firstly, give respect to others' habits and culture. Australia is a multi-cultural country so there are lots of people from different countries with different living style. My mom is from Poland, that she always asks me to keep the washroom dry and the door of the washroom must open all the time. All I could do is to follow the homestay's rule and tried not to argue that I never do such things in Macao that will leave a bad impression to your homestay family. Once you live in a new country, you need to adapt yourself to the others' life styles and try to enjoy it if it is good for health and safety.

Secondly, treat people the way you want to be treated. Although the homestay is used to live with different homestay students and treat them like their real sons and daughters, it does not mean that you can live like in your home - lazy in washing dishes and clothes, sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. And you should show your homestay mom what you can do for them the first time even they told you that you do not need to do.

Thirdly, be more active. Do not feel too shy to walk out of your bedroom to talk with your homestay mom about your experience and feeling and sit together to watch TV. As I know that lots of Chinese students like staying in the bedroom and playing computer games. But IPM provide such a good chance to improve your English and travel in foreign countries, you should spend more time in practicing and enjoying. At the same time, you can build a good relationship with your homestay family and even your roommate. All I have a good tip for you: try to have a small talk with your homestay family about their hobbies and show your own hobbies to them, and I think it is a good start to show that you have a good understanding of their background and you try to become a part of their family.

Beyond that, I learn a lot from this experience. I should spend more time with my parent and cherish every moment I can live with my parent, even we just sit together to enjoy the TV show. Mother is a woman that raises me up and takes all her time in taking care of me, from long black hair to white short hair. All I can do is take good care of myself and express my love through hugs and gifts in return.

Finally, I want to thank IPM for providing such a chance to me to make new friends from Australia and Japan. I will never forget the persons who taught me a lot and led me enter a whole new world.