Summer Vacation Immersion Style

Does this sound familiar, your child has had three years of a foreign language and still can’t hold a conversation past one sentence? It is time for a summer vacation immersion style. Vacation rentals are a perfect way to see a foreign country and total immerse your self and your family in a new culture.  

You may be thinking it is too late to book that summer vacation abroad but nothing could be further from the truth. There are still great properties available from villas to quaint cottages. Here are a few items to keep in mind when looking at properties. 

First floor in American generally means ground level. In Europe first floor generally means the first floor above ground level. Make sure you understand clearly the bathroom arrangements. Beds tend to be smaller in Europe than in America. While “packing the kids” into one bedroom may be a bit more difficult in Europe. Finally, make sure you know in what form of currency payment will be due. Some properties I found in France only took payment in British pounds.  

Having said that, the main reason you are going to a foreign country for an immersion vacation is to immerse you and your family into a new culture. It is a chance to rub elbows with folks from a new country rather than spend your vacation in a foreign country surrounded by people who speak your language and cater to folks from your native land. 

I’m not sure I would try this if the only one who spoke the language (sort of) was a high school junior with 2-3 years of foreign language. But it you have a working knowledge of the language this is a great summer escape. 

Here are a few prices that I found on line this week. A rustic cottage in the town of La Cadiere d’Azur, France rents for $998 for the week. This cottage sleeps 6 and the month of June is wide open. The town square is about a 2 minute stroll from this property. It is about 30km from Marseille. 

Would something in the Burgundy region be more to your liking? How about a nice French country manor in Voisines which about 55 minutes south of Paris? Voisines is a small town of about 400 people. This 3 bedroom manor has 3 bedrooms and sleeps eight people. The rental is about $1200 for the week which includes a fully equipped kitchen, barbeque and fireplace. 

Spain also has some incredible vacation rental properties available. Both France and Spain have several different types of accommodations. One that caught my eye in Spain is country villa in Andalucia. This villa has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, sleeps 10 has an incredible view and a pool. In addition to the fully equipped kitchen there is an open patio and grill, a perfect spot to relax and cook the evening meal. Right now this property is running a special. The usual rental is 40% off its usual rental price of $1711 per week. 

Of course, you can still do an immersion vacation with very little knowledge of the language. Most of the big cities are used to vacationers with little fluency of the native language. You will have more fun though, if you know at least a few basic sentences and can communicate at a minimal level. So dust off your foreign language skills, get a little refresher if needed and have a great vacation rental immersion vacation.

Posted by on Jun 5th, 2010 and filed under Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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