Christmas International House A Holiday of Friendship with International Students

PENNSYLVANIA PROGRAMS

Keystone State

Learn more about Pennsylvania

Lancaster County CIH
Blue Ball, PA

Celebrate your holiday with Lancaster County CIH.  We are located in southeastern Pennsylvania, an area that is well known for its Amish community and scenic countryside.  

You will stay in the home a host family and participate in all their activities and traditions as they celebrate the holidays.   You may be able to help bake cookies or decorate the family Christmas tree, or enjoy quiet conversation with your host family.

You may join in several group activities that are usually planned, such as:

• American Arts Day – you can learn how to cook some traditional Pennsylvania Dutch foods, to do hand quilting and to do wheat weavings.  This full day event usually ends with some fun games.

• International Night – share you native customs, traditions, and foods with your host family and other international students.  This is always a fun, fun time.

• A New Year’s Eve celebration with your new friends - toast the coming of the New Year with champagne and noisemakers at midnight.
   
  Group tours may also include:

•  A day trip through the Amish country with a possible visit to an Amish one-room schoolhouse.

• An evening trip to Hershey Park, an amusement park where you can ride some of the rides by starlight.

• A day trip to Philadelphia to tour museums and see historical sites, such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  This trip usually ends with a meal and visit to a Chinese Market in Philly's China Town. 

Our program will host a small number of guests.  We cannot guarantee an international mix.  However, if you want a quiet time away from the stress of college life, if you want to get to know an American family and have some fun in the process, you will enjoy your time with the members and friends of St. John Center Lutheran Church.  We are eager to share our cold winter weather and our warm hospitality.

Other Pennsylvania Programs

Eastern Mennonite Homes
Eastern Mennonite Missions
Salunga, PA

Lancaster County has a rich cultural heritage developed over the years and based on deep spiritual values, a strong work ethic and a sense of community. Come share Christmas with us.

  Your host family will introduce you to traditions and activities that surround our celebration of Christmas for Christians. You will be able to experience an interchange of culture, cuisine and customs. And it might even snow!! 

Come to have fun and make some memories!

Market Square Presbyterian Church
Harrisburg, PA

Our downtown church sponsors host homes---in the city, suburbs, small towns,  in the country. Hosts include all ages and family make-ups, single men or  women, couples, families with children. Market Square Presbyterian Church has members who live in all of the above different areas. We also have hosts  participating from other churches in the area. We welcome students to share our holiday season and our part of the United States. You'll have time with your host and time to relax.

 We enjoy an "international dinner" with food prepared by students and hosts, and a New Year's Eve party (some of our hosts have other plans, traditions). We typically offer a downtown tour of our small city which includes our State Capitol Building, our county courthouse and a meeting with a judge, and a visit to the Harrisburg City Government building. The state museum offers an overview of Pennsylvania history, including the native animals, geology, life of some of our original Native Americans, and much more! A new attraction is an excellent Civil War Museum.  Some students/hosts attend an ice hockey game and/or indoor soccer. Area interests include Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey Park's Christmas Candylane, Amish country in nearby Lancaster County,  Gettysburg - for more Civil War history,  indoor ice skating, downhill skiing  (available but somewhat expensive).

 Join us and share OUR versions of the Christmas holiday.

 For more information on the Harrisburg Program, check out our Web Page

Other Pennsylvania Programs

Located in a historic farming community in North-Central Pennsylvania, Chillisquaque PC is a small, family church which was founded even before the United States achieved their independence (1774)!   Some of our current families can trace their ancestry back to founding members.  Special services for the Christmas season are a yearly highlight for the congregation.  

Near the confluence of the two branches of the Susquehanna River, Potts Grove is rural, yet relatively close to some of the major urban centers of the Northeast.  Therefore activities can range from visits to traditional Pennsylvania Dutch areas such as Lancaster, to a day at  “The Sweetest Place on Earth” (Hershey), to Pennsylvania coal mining museums just to the east, to trips to Philadelphia or New York City (each city being about a 3 hour drive).  Locally there is easy access to the winter sports of the Pocono Mountains region, and tobogganing at Eagle’s Mere.  Cultural activities are found in nearby Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.

06/07/05