Walk Through a Program

Participant working in local community

Your experiment begins soon after your application is accepted. Leading up to your great adventure, we will send you program and host country information. We challenge you to learn as much about your host country as possible. It is important to remember that you are preparing to immerse yourself, to give yourself to the new culture as an open-minded, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and generous ambassador.

Each Experiment program features two fundamental components:

Cross-Cultural Orientation

Participant group in local community

On the day of departure, you meet your group and leader at a gateway airport and take the first bold steps of your journey. Upon arrival to the capital or major city of your host country, you hit the ground running. Lace up a pair of comfortable shoes to walk the city, work on survival language skills, and adapt to a new way of life. Orientation prepares you to step out from behind the lens of a camera or the window of a tour bus and dive into the experience.

The Homestay

For many, the homestay is the most rewarding aspect of their Experiment. For one to three weeks, you live with a welcoming host family sharing in the activities of daily life. Your foreign language skills quickly improve as you shop, prepare meals, or talk into the night. Activities and excursions with your group and leader add to your experience and provide opportunities to explore the surrounding area.

Program Focus and Themes

In a local school

In addition to the cross-cultural orientation and homestay, all Experiment programs include one or more themes which enhance your understanding of the host culture. Working with in-country experts, musicians, chefs, guides, artists, language trainers, and ecologists, you gain a richer and broader perspective of the host country and culture through these experiential themes.

 

Community Service programs enable you to roll up your sleeves and work with community members on a project designed by local people. Language Training programs help you achieve a whole new level of speaking and understanding with intensive language training. Programs with an Arts theme give enormous texture to your understanding of another culture through art, music, theater, dance, and the culinary arts. Discover famous cultural and historical sights and travel to different areas of your host country on a program with a Travel and Regional Exploration theme, and experience the greatest natural wonders on earth in any of our programs with an Ecological/Outdoor Adventure theme.

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