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Brenda Padilla Ericksen

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Brenda is the founder of GAP Academy, where J-1 and F-1 students gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to thrive in the USA. She provides cultural diversity and intercultural competence training for US exchange programs, sending organizations worldwide and personnel at multinational companies. Brenda has a Spanish Degree from Western Washington University and has been immersed in cultural diversity for over 30 years as a teacher, journalist and corporate trainer. She is from Seattle, Washington and has lived and worked in Spain for 30 years where she has raised four daughters. She is a former international student (Spain & Norway), host mother (Thailand, France, Austria & USA), and the mother of daughters who exchanged to France, Canada, USA, South Korea & Nepal.
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Recent Posts

Do you dream of visiting Spain one day? Hosting an exchange student from this warm, fun-loving Mediterranean country could be a...


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Your exchange student from Spain should make you a paella. Every Spanish teenager knows that, but many will procrastinate until...


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Tags: International Cooking

Are you a fan of all things Italian? You might love to host a student from Italy, but read this first!

Every year hundreds of...


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Tags: Cultural Exchange, cultural understanding

Is hosting an exchange student a good way to make a friend in Korea? Definitely! But do look before you leap...

Jasmine (2nd from...


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Tags: Host an exchange student, Reasons to host, cultural understanding

Around the world gift-giving traditions vary on special occasions of all kinds. Who gives gifts to whom? When? How should a gift...


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Tags: Cultural Exchange, Culture Shock, gift-giving europe

It all began as an experiment: what would German exchange students like to make or bake for their American host families?


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Tags: Cultural Exchange, International Cooking

Jami Dauphin once thought her life was rather conventional - even a tad boring. It was nothing special, to be sure. Or was it?


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Tags: Host an exchange student, Host mom, Reasons to host,

As host parents we have a lot of explaining to do - the fun (even funny) kind of explaining. For example:


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Tags: Culture Shock

In the 1960’s psychologists “discovered” culture shock. They were surprised that new immigrants needed so much medical care. A...


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Tags: Culture Shock

This is the emergency message I received from Maria:

“Can you help me? I think my host mom is crazy. She yelled at me for no...


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Tags: cultural values

World Gratitude Day is September 21. This is a perfect occasion for host families and exchange students to compare notes: how do...


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Tags: cultural values, cross-cultural gratitude, gratitude in India,

In 1984, one man tried to tell the world what makes Americans tick. It was his job to prepare foreign visitors for culture shock...


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Tags: cultural values, American values

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