I have been on two language courses and I thought that I might share my experiences with you,
in case you are thinking about travelling abroad yourselves.

It was around christmas 2009 when I booked my language trip with Student Travel Schools to Isle of Wight.
But it wasn't until July 2010 the trip actually started.



I was really nervous the day before when I packed my clothes, shoes, towels and all other stuff I would need for my three weeks in England. All I knew about my host family was the name on one family member: Samantha. I didn't know if she was young or old, lived by herself or had a family, had pets or not. But the most scary part was the fact that I didn't know anyone.  

When I came to Arlanda and met all the wonderful people there, it felt better. It wasn't difficult to get new friends, because there were other people who had travelled without knowing anyone.
After hours of travelling by airplane, bus and boat, we finally arrived to the beautiful island Isle of Wight.
All host familys came and picked up their students.


Map


During my trip to England I lived with Samantha and her family. She was around 30 and had a husband named Andrew and three children between four and ten. My roommates were all from Stockholm and their names was Isabella, Linn and Matilda.


Host family's house


We were about 20 people in my group: 12 from Sweden and 8 from Denmark. My leaders were Lina from Sweden and Mette from Denmark. Lina was the activity leader and Mette was a teacher. We also had a local teacher named Joanna.


Isabella, Linn, Matilda and me


When we didn't have school, we had activities. We had Head Hunting (Almost like Laser dome, but in the forest), Photo quizes, Discos in Newport, Isle of Wight roundtrip, and we also took boats three times to diffrent places on Englands mainland: Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Southampton.



Head Hunting team


The last two days were we in London, and we saw the most common tourist attractions and lived in a typical english hostel.



Big Ben and Houses of Parlament


So what did I think about this language trip?
I think it was fun and I really learned how to take care of myself. I think I improved my english skills a little bit, and it was a great experience. The leaders were great and I tought I had the best host family I could ever get. Of course there were some negative things too, like there were a lot of extra expenditure than STS had told us before the departure. That was bad, because we had to pay for things we already thought we had payed for. But over all, I don't regret that journey I did. I grew so much in myself and met really nice people.


Jumping at the beach





More pictures at my Facebook