A Day in the Life
Your Host Family
At the center of the CIEE Gap Year Abroad experience is your host family. You begin each day engaging and interacting with them, putting your language skills to use the moment you wake. After a day of classes, volunteering, or exploring the city, you join them around the dinner table, sharing a meal and the news about your day.
Your Classes
During the week, you build your language skills and cultural understanding through a number of engaging, interactive courses and seminars. Studying alongside CIEE participants—and in many cases other international students—creates an exciting class dynamic and exposes you to a variety of cultures.
Volunteering
After class you spend time giving back at a local school or charity. You form relationships with community members, organizers, and other volunteers, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in a new community while positively contributing to it.
Excursions
This week it could be a visit to a museum or art gallery; next week a daytrip to a nearby city or province. Excursions—which are included in the program—give you greater insight into local culture and expose you to new places you might not see or find on your own.
Exploring a New City
In your free time, you make the city your own. You help your host family shop for food at the local market; take a cultural excursion with classmates and staff; meet friends at your favorite spot or find a new one. Each day you discover a new street, interact with new people, and become a more fluent speaker as you continue to make this once foreign space your new home.
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