Meet the Birkels!

Hello from the Birkel family in Falmouth, Maine!

Host mom Michelle, and host dad Paul have two daughters and live in a beautiful home on the Maine coast, right down the road from the CIEE office in Portland! ​

Michelle and Paul foster a home environment of independence, respect and personal responsibility and it is obvious in the way their close-knit family interacts and gets along. They spend their free time as a family going to athletic events that the girls are participating in (basketball this season), engaging in outdoor activities, like walking the family dog, or going hiking. 

If the weather is bad, the family will stay inside. By turning their basement into a game room, complete with a pool table, foosball table and a ping pong table, and a large room on the second floor turned into a gym, there is no need to leave on a rainy day!

The Birkels are excited to welcome an international student into their family this year, and share all that Falmouth and hospitable Maine culture has to offer!