<p>I'm a first year college student and am researching study abroad opportunities for this summer. I don't know of many options besides programs run through Harvard and Georgetown, and these are all $7,000 - $8,000 for about 8 weeks. Are these programs worth the money? Would I be better off going independently and arranging classes on my own? My main goal is to increase language fluency as much as I can. Receiving credit would be great but not completely necessary.</p>
<p>Are there other programs run by universities that are more affordable?</p>
<p>Do you have to study in a formal classroom setting whilst you’re there? If you simply want to improve your language fluency, then I would suggest having a look at volunteering options through websites like WWOOF, [Help</a> Exchange: free volunteer work exchange abroad Australia New Zealand Canada Europe](<a href=“http://www.helpx.net%5DHelp”>http://www.helpx.net) and [Workaway.info</a> the site for free work exchange. Gap year volunteer for food and accommodation whilst travelling abroad.](<a href=“http://www.workaway.info%5DWorkaway.info”>http://www.workaway.info) - there are lots of opportunities in every country around the world, so you could (for instance) find yourself volunteering in rural France, and immersing yourself in the language, as spoken by locals. </p>
<p>You would, of course, have to check out the visa restrictions on volunteering (if you’re looking at going to Europe, check out Schengen visas).</p>
<p>Out of interest, what do you mean by structured? Are you hoping to take course credits back to your US college, or are you more worried about any personal safety aspect? </p>
<p>If it’s the latter, then I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There’s very little that’s going to happen to you in Europe (I presume this is where you’re thinking of going). War torn and prone to civil unrest it is not. If you have a little of the local language then you can always get by, and if you have a little bit of common sense then you will be absolutely fine. I speak as someone who once went to Malaysia on something of a whim (long story!), barely researched the trip, and spent a wonderful week travelling solo (I’m female, white and very petite) around the country. I also spent 6 months in Australia, also solo, shortly after leaving high school. Bad things very rarely happen on such trips, and if they do then it’s usually solved through travel insurance, and / or you were just as likely to have that same thing happen whilst in your home country. </p>
<p>A backpack, a visa, a plane ticket, some money and a copy of the Lonely Planet is all you really need for these things </p>
<p>PS if it’s the former, and you want course credit, then I’ve not a clue! Not really my area of expertise.</p>
<p>Boomting, just curious-- I’m a freshman too. Do you have any more suggestions for free/mostly free ways to travel the world this summer? I’m aware of WWOOFing and crewing on sailing ships/yachts, just wondering if you have any other things to share :)</p>
<p>I’m a UK citizen, so visas are different for me (e.g. I have the right to live & work anywhere in the European Union, you don’t), along with travel (I can get on a train from my house to Paris, for instance) so to some extent I’m going to have to talk in general terms. What I will say is that you will almost certainly have to pay your airfare, so budget for that. </p>
<p>There’s HelpX and WorkAway, as I mentioned above.
You could also try working as an Au Pair, or possibly for a holiday company in a resort (as opposed to a cruise ship)
I’ve come across some jobs where you travel, e.g. working on food vans at festivals, but this probably wouldn’t take you outside the US </p>
<p>There are also working holiday visas available for various countries; I had one for Australia. However, these are usually valid for 1 or 2 years, and you can only have one for any given country in your lifetime. That means that going for just one summer seems like something of a waste. In addition, you probably wouldn’t be able to make back your airfare, and pay living expenses, and see the country you’re living in in that time. They’re best saved for after you graduate, unless you have a pre-college gap year.</p>
<p>Hi Boomting, I’m in the same situation as Atelophobia, and I’m wondering if you’ve ever done an organic farmstay such as the ones posted on HelpX before. If you have, what was your experience? If you haven’t, do you have advice for someone who is considering that option? Much thanks.</p>
<p>I’ve done some volunteering on a city farm, but that was in my home town so I went along once a week and worked for a few hours before going home again. I loved that, but one way and another I’ve never done a farmstay. The closest I’ve ever come is working in the hospitality industry in Australia! From what I’ve heard however, the first rule of these sorts of thing is to establish what the expectations of you are in advance - both your and your host’s expectations of each other. </p>
<p>Another way to travel on the cheap that sprung to mind was a charity hitch hike. One that springs to mind is Link, a charity that organises sponsored hitch hikes from the UK to Morocco and Croatia in aid of education in Africa. The only downside is that it’s only done over Easter, rather than the summer. They reckon that people spend about £400 ($650) doing the hitch, including some time spent in the destination country and flights back to the UK. I’m sure there are other charity hitch hikes out there, and you could combine it with volunteering / sightseeing along the way.</p>
<p>I studied abroad independently - I didn’t have a choice, really, because I wanted to study abroad in a couple of places, but couldn’t afford to do more than 1 through a study abroad program.</p>
<p>Language fluency!? That was my focus! There’s tons of stuff for that. Have a look at languageschoollinks.com (it’s a crappy looking site, if you ask me) but I found a couple of schools on it that I went to, so it gets my vote.</p>
<p>And if you are looking at programs through Harvard and Georgetown…you’re definitely smart enough to figure it all out!</p>
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