Greenheart Travel

Tag: COVID-19

  • Live Like a Local and Save Money in Spain

    Live Like a Local and Save Money in Spain

    Are you looking for affordable ways to stay in Europe? Check out our Teach in a Homestay programs!

    You may be thinking, a volunteer program that requires me to pay a program fee? 

    It’s reasonable to be turned off by the program fee, but the truth is that you just can’t spend an extended period of time in Western Europe for cheap. Rent is high, food is expensive, and as a North American, you aren’t eligible for a visa that will allow you to make any real money working (read more here). The Teach English in a Homestay in Spain program costs $1,710 and allows you to stay in Madrid for up to 3 months. Think you could do it cheaper?

    Let’s break it down. Here are some numbers for you, taken from internet research combined with my experience living in Madrid for 2 years:

    Average cost of a hostel: $20/night for a dorm, $30 for a private room

    Meal in a restaurant: ~$10 (low estimate)

    Groceries: $35/week (low estimate)

    If you manage to find an apartment, the rent would be $350-$550/month for a room in a shared apartment, plus utilities (which are roughly the same price as in the US). This is pretty much impossible to line up before you arrive, so you’d have to stay in a hostel for a while until you found a place. I’m speaking from experience: I arrived in Madrid with some advantages most expats don’t have, since I was already fluent in Spanish and had several local contacts, and I spent an entire week making (no exaggeration) over 100 phone calls trying to find an apartment. Many landlords require a huge security deposit for foreign tenants (mine was €1,250), proof of employment, and a year-long lease.

    So if you stay in Madrid for the duration of your 90-day tourist visa, find an apartment after 2 weeks, only eat out once a week at cheap places, and find that rare Madrileño landlord willing to charge you 1 month security deposit and give you a short lease and prorated rent, the cost of your Spain adventure will be $2,040-$2,885. If you live in a hostel the whole time, you’ll spend around $2,340.

    That $1,440 isn’t looking so bad now, right?

    Prices obviously vary a lot from country to country, but Madrid is one of cheapest major cities in Europe. Europe just isn’t cheap.

    But I want to see Europe! Won’t my teaching job interfere with my freedom to travel?

    Your position will only occupy you for 15 hours a week, leaving you free to explore the city during the week, and to travel beyond your host city on the weekends! One of the many fabulous things about living in Europe is RyanAir! Here are some sample ideas (prices from Madrid)

    Weekend in Brussels: $49 round trip (2.5 hr flight)

    Weekend in London: $73 round trip (2.5hr flight)

    Weekend in Paris: $56 round trip (2hr 10min flight)

    Weekend in Morocco (Fez): $47 round trip (1.5 hr flight)

    Also in bus/train range:

    Granada

    granada

    San Sebastian

    also: Barcelona, Valencia, Cordoba, Lisbon, and the beaches of the Costa del Sol!

    And the biggest payout of all:

    Sure, you could shell out the extra money and go it alone, living in a hostel or renting a room in an expat apartment. You’ll spend your days, your nights, and your weekends with other foreigners, going to Irish-themed pubs in touristy neighborhoods and speaking your own language with people from your own culture. There’s a huge expat scene in Madrid, and in every other major European city, and it’s all too easy to fall into it and never actually experience the city the way the locals do. It might be fun, but you could speak English over Budweisers at a place called Finnegan’s without ever leaving your country.

    Living in a homestay, you will get an immersive, cultural exchange experience. You will speak Spanish. You’ll eat Spanish food at long, wine-soaked dinners with Spanish friends and family members. You’ll learn where to find the best tortilla de patata (hint: it’s not in Puerta del Sol) and how to order a beer (you probably didn’t know this but you want it mixed with lemon soda). You’ll learn how Spanish people talk and think and live, and you’ll learn it from the inside, not as a tourist.

    So before you let the price tag and the part-time job scare you off, consider what this program would offer you: a chance to live in Europe for cheap and travel to some of the world’s greatest cities, all while experiencing the cultural exchange of living with a local family. It’s a pretty good deal.

    Check out our Teach in a Homestay programs to get your cultural immersion experience started!

  • Ready to Learn a Language This Summer? What You Need to Know About COVID-19 and Our Teen Language Camps

    Ready to Learn a Language This Summer? What You Need to Know About COVID-19 and Our Teen Language Camps

    Yes, 2020 has been a year. So just like you, we can’t wait for a great Summer 2021. And as much as you’re ready to jump on a plane now and experience a Japanese tea ceremony in Fukuoka or watch gelato melt from your cone in Florence, we bet you and your parents have lots of questions before you apply for our Teen Language Camp programs. (Wondering what a Teen Language Camp is? Here’s a brief explainer.)

    You can always find the latest COVID-19 programming information here.

    So, here’s what you need to know about applying for a Teen Language Camp and traveling abroad in Summer 2021.

    We’re still planning to run Summer 2021 Teen Language Camp programs. 

    Currently, with the exception of Costa Rica, U.S. tourists are not yet permitted to enter our Teen Language Camp destinations. (Our Teen Language Camp students don’t apply for student visas and are granted 90-day tourist permissions upon arrival – this won’t be a piece of paper. It’s just a stamp in your passport!) At the time of this writing, we’re hopeful that entry restrictions will change soon. We’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

    Our applications will open on November 15, 2020, and the final deadline to secure your spot for Summer 2021 is on March 15, 2021. Ready to apply? Hit this button to receive a link to the application.

    But like the rest of the world, we sadly can’t predict the future, and we don’t know what 2021 will hold. If we’re unable to run your program due to health and safety or entry restrictions or requirements like mandatory government quarantines, we’ll cancel your start date six weeks prior. You’d then have options to defer, switch to a new program, or request a partial refund. Read the full COVID-19 Cancellation and Refund Policy here.

    We’ll keep you updated with any and all COVID-19-related health and safety guidelines for your destination. 

    Closer to your start date, you will participate in an online pre-departure training with a Greenheart Travel staff member. The details will be provided to  you upon acceptance onto the program. During this online training, the Greenheart Travel staff member will provide any specific COVID-19 guidelines or entry requirements (such as getting a COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to departure). All students will be required to adhere to any local or federal government guidelines while on program, such as wearing a mask and maintaining six feet of distance with anyone outside of this program. These will be discussed with students during the online pre-departure as well as upon arrival. Guidelines, requirements, and restrictions change frequently, so we will give you the most accurate information as possible as close to your start date as possible.

    If you get COVID-19 while abroad, we have protocols in place. 

    The protocols will vary by country,  but we’ll give you the most up-to-date information during your online pre-departure training. (For example, if you get COVID-19, you’d be expected to quarantine with your host family until you’re COVID-19 free.) And remember, all students have 24/7 emergency number to call in case of any concerns, and you’ll be counting on support from both the local in-country staff and long-distance from our Chicago offices, as well as your host family. Another great piece of news? Part of your program fee goes towards comprehensive medical and accident insurance that covers COVID-19.

    At Greenheart Travel, we’re committed to safely running Summer 2021 Teen Language Camps. The world has brought many twists and turns this year, but you can always count on our support of your cultural exchange experience.

    Are you more interested in high school abroad? Here’s what you need to know about being an exchange student during the COVID-19 pandemic.

     

  • Learning Italian While Quarantining Upon Arrival

    Learning Italian While Quarantining Upon Arrival

    A note from Greenheart Travel: Now several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, our high school abroad programs in most destinations are still able to run. However, like all aspects of life, Greenheart Travel’s programs are a bit different than in the pre-COVID-19 era. One of those things, our 2020 First-Time Traveler Scholarship Recipient Jessica Durnell tells us, is quarantining for two weeks with her host family upon arrival before starting school – and not understanding Italian! In this post, she gives tips and tricks to picking  up the language when you can’t leave the house.

    So, you’ve just gotten off the plane. You’re in a different country, everyone around you is speaking in their mother tongue and much faster than you expected, and you’re feeling everything at once. Maybe you’re tired and just want to pass out as soon as your host family picks you up, you’re nervous – but one thing’s for sure, and that is: you’re excited. You have so many new things to experience, but there’s one little hindrance… you can’t leave your house for the next two weeks.  

    Jessica sitting in the chair that she sat in every single day when she was studying Italian on her laptop.

    That’s exactly how I felt when I got off of my plane and arrived in Italy. I felt everything at once, but most of all, I was excited. I was seeing so many new things, and I wanted to be able to experience them all. Sure, my ability to speak Italian was in shackles, rather surprised with how easy it was to fly, and I didn’t exactly know where my luggage was because I forgot to read a sign, but I was hyped. But first, I have to survive quarantine. 

    The first thing I had to conquer through quarantine was the irrefutable fact that I had no idea what anybody was saying to me. So, I started studying Italian on my own time. But the easiest way of knowing what you’re going to need to prioritize how to say is right in front of you: your host family. So, you listen to their conversations. There’s always common words and topics that people will focus on, or more so, these are the “basics.”  

    This way, I’ve learned what people commonly say, and common expressions that they use as well. Even if you don’t know the full extent of what someone is saying, you can use the words you do know and context to figure out what people are saying. It’s how I’ve been getting by until I myself can form coherent sentences… and it has worked, well, at least, it has worked well enough!

    But even when you’re studying another language, there’s still a lot of spare time left over. And you have a full two weeks worth of it to go through. Even if you’re doing other things to take up your time – like watching movies, a TV show, or reading a book… do it in the language you’re studying. So, I started to re-watch an animated show in an Italian dub. Not only was it amusing, but I could pick up on what people were actually saying, and translate it in my head, since I was already familiar with the show.  

    If you’re going to watch something, I recommend a cartoon or an animated show, as they usually have simpler scripts for the younger audience they are directed towards, which can be easier for you to translate into your mother tongue!  

    The view from Jessica’s host family’s house.

    Writing this now, I’ve completed quarantine. And boy… was it a long ride. Tomorrow, I go to my first day of school! Excitement, nerves, and the fear that I still have no idea what I’m doing is coursing through my veins. But in the words of one of my favorite YouTube channels: say yes to discomfort.