How to Prepare

Once you have determined that you are ready for an immersion program and you have realistic expectations of what you can expect you are going to want to start preparing for your trip. This is the fun part!

Get to know your destination

One of the first things you should do is get to know your destination city/country.  There are so many great guide books and online travel sites - too many to list them all here but a few of our favorites are:

Lonely Planet

Let's Go

Rough Guides

DK Eyewitness

Frommers

Do some language self-study

You may want to get in as much language prep as you can so review what you studied this year in school or, if you are a beginner, get some basics under your belt such as greetings and counting to 100 (or even 10!).  Some of our favorite self-study resources are:

Living Language

Rosetta Stone

Connect with other teens

You'll want to connect with other teens who will be attending the same program. There are two ways you can do this:

1. As we get close to the start date of your program, we'll provide a travel buddies page with the name, e-mail address, departure city and dates of enrollment for other participants for your program who have given us permission to share their details
2. Join our Facebook community

Get ready to pack

You shouldn't need to buy too many specialty items but we do recommend that you purchase a good two-way dictionary (two-way means that you can look up a word in English as well as in the target language). One of our favorites is Collins dictionaries (available at most bookstores and Amazon.com).

We also suggest that you take a camera, digital is best, but nothing too expensive as they can get lost or broken. In addition to this you'll want to take a travel journal to record your memories and experiences. If you would like to share music with your new friends or have some company while you travel, you may want to bring an iPod or MP3 player. But rember, you are responsible for keeping your valuables safe at all times so only bring what you know you can keep track of.

This year we are making it a requirement that all teens travel with a fully operational cell phone so don't forget to start looking into this at least a few months before your program start date. 

Approximately 6 weeks prior to your program start date, we'll be sending out a comprehensive pre-departure package that will include a packing list specific to your program. 

And we are always here to help you get ready so if you have any questions we haven't addressed here, don't hesitate to contact us.

Questions about how to prepare? Call us toll-free on 1 888 386 1411