Cultural immersion Homestay in the USA

Total immersion in the United States

Cultural immersion is an excellent way to make rapid progress in English while developping natural fluidity in oral expression. It also lets you discover American culture, while being immersed in the locals’ way of life and customs. You’ll have the most authentic American experience while living with a family and sharing their daily lives.

Communication and human exchange are the master words for a successful stay, together with an open mind and the will to discover another culture and way of life.

This type of programme is, therefore, recommended to young open-minded participants with an adequate amount of autonomy and sociability. In order to facilitate integration in a foreign culture, it is advisable to have studied English for at least 2-3 years.

In the United States, the hospitality tradition is deeply rooted in the culture: the host families are all volunteer and only receive a small contribution as part of the fees incured. They have been selected for their experience and eagerness to host and accommodate young people while sharing their culture and discovering the student’s one. They are looking forward to welcoming you and expect from you a real personal involvement in that experience.

You will be hosted by an American family and share their everyday life. No activity will be organised in the frame of the programme except those left at the family’s initiative.

It is important to understand that participating in that type of programme means accepting to share the life of a family of a different culture and different habits from yours.

Therefore, your adaptation and personal involvement are essentials to the success of your stay.

Regions of stay

All host families live about a couple of hours drive from the cities mentionned as follow, whatever the chosen programme is:

Region 1 (2 to 6 weeks)	Kansas/Missouri : Kansas City (MCI) Minnesota : Minneapolis (MSP)
Region 2 (2 to 4 weeks)	Colorado : Denver (DEN) Texas : Houston (IAH) Washington : Seattle (SEA) East Coast : Philadelphia (PHL), Richmond (RIC), Norfolk (ORF), Virginia Beach (PHF), Washington DC (DCA or IAD)
Region 3 (2 or 3 weeks)	California : San Francisco (SFO), Sacramento (SMF)

This option is ideal to get rapidly integrated in the hosting community and to join in usefully into the local life by volunteering through an association or non profit making organisation. It is also a great way to meet people out of the host family circle and to practice your oral English with people of all ages.

You will have to choose between 5 to 10 hours or 11 to 15 hours of Community Service per week (to be confirmed upon booking).

Duration of the stay: 2-6 weeks

Possible regions of stay:

Region 1 :	Kansas/Missouri : Kansas City (MCI) Minnesota : Minneapolis (MSP)
Region 2 :	Colorado : Denver (DEN) Texas : Houston (IAH)

You will be assisted in organising your transport to the place of your volunteer activity (car pool or local communal transport). A small contribution to the transport costs will be requested on site (see “Prices & Dates” tab).

Examples of volunteer missions:

Options will vary according to the particular needs of a community at the moment of the stay. You need to be open to the proposals that will be made to you.

Here are a few examples of the fields where the volunteer missions can take place: soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food banks, retirement homes, children’s camps (including leisure day camp and park beautification.

This option is for serious and highly motivated students with a good, solid conversational English level and who want to discover the American Enterprise Culture in a professional situation.

The internship” is non retributed and takes place in one of the following fields according to your personnal qualification.

The missions may vary depending on your age and your level of studies as per the following scheme:

“Business shadowing” : observation
“Assistance” : active part taken in a professional project in the chosen fied
“Administration” : basic office operations being part of any professional life : computer data entry, photocopies, records management, téléphone activity, etc.

Level 1: for 18-20 years or for those still following their undergraduate studies (2 years). The goal is to get and integrate the American business practice.

Level 2: for the ages 20+ who have passed their undergraduate studies. You will be able to choose the professional field fitting with your university cursus.

Arts & Culture	Community Service	Computer Technology**	Design**
Education**	Farming & Ranching	Information Media & Communication**	Marketing**
Office Operations	Translation	Travel Tourism

**fields open to the students who have passed their undergraduate studies

Duration of the stay: 4-12 weeks

Application conditions:

To apply one must have the following qualities and abilities:

Clear and well defined professional project
Good level of English (comprehension and oral expression in particular)
Professional attitude and appearance
Interest in American culture
Adaptation to and respect of the American way of life
Flexibility and enthusiasm

Possible regions of stay:

Région 1 : Kansas/Missouri : Kansas City (MCI)

Région 2 :

Colorado : Denver (DEN)
Texas : Houston (IAH)
Washington : Seattle (SEA)
Virginia : Richmond (RIC)

Transportation fares to the firm/agency are the responsibility of each student (see “Prices & Dates” tab).

The families are carefully selected to host young people according to specific criteria such as neighbourhood safety, proximity to transport and quality of care.

They all live about a couple of hours drive from the cities mentionned on the programme page, whatever the chosen programme is.

For Total Immersion programme, host families may not have children of the same age as you (sometimes these may have left their family home and live in their own place). However they will endeavour, as much as possible, to put their hosted student in contact with young American people living in their neighbourhood

It is of the utmost importance to understand that the motivation to apply to such a programme is, first of all, to accept to share a different everyday life with new habits, sometimes very different from yours.

Your own capacity of adaptation and personnal investment into this project are the key to the success of your stay.

Travel

Arrrival/departure airport will vary depending on your destination. We will notify you of this when confirming your booking.

Before booking your flights, please wait until we have confirmed your application on the programme, including relevant dates and availabilities.

Visa information

Do you need a Visa for this programme? For more information please consult our page Visa Information.

Do not hesitate to contact us by telephone or email if you require any further information

Dates & Prices 2024

Dates 2021

Application deadlines:

At the latest 2 months before the expected departure date for the programmes Total Immersion and Community Service option.
At the latest 3 months before the expected departure date for the programme Business Education Experience. In case of a stay of 7 to 12 weeks, the deadline arrival date is June 15 2021. It is not possible to attend this programme over the Christmas Holiday Season between December 15 2021 to January 03 2022.

No arrival/departure are possible upon the following dates corresponding to US holiday dates:

February 16 to 18, 2021
April 19 to 22, 2021
May 24 to 27, 2021
July 02 to 04, 2021
August 30 to September 02, 2021
November 28 to December 01, 2021
December 17 to January 02, 2022

School holidays dates in the US vary from one state or region to another. To make sure when the young Americans are on holiday, please find as follow the possible dates per region:

Region 1 (2 to 6 weeks)	Kansas/Missouri : Kansas City (MCI) – 01/06 to 08/08 Minnesota : Minneapolis (MSP) – 07/06 to 08/08
Region 2 (2 to 4 weeks)	Colorado : Denver (DEN) – 07/06 to 09/08 Texas : Houston (IAH) – 01/06 to 15/08 Washington : Seattle (SEA) – 21/06 to 22/08 East Coast : Philadelphia (PHL), Richmond (RIC), Virginia Beach (PHF), Washington DC (DCA ou IAD) – 14/06 to 22/08, Norfolk (ORF)- 21/06 to 15/08
Region 3 (2 to 3 weeks)	California : San Francisco (SFO) – 06/06 to 08/08 Sacramento (SMF) 14/06 to 22/08

Prices 2021

Total immersion (14-18 years)
Duration	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3
2 weeks	€ 1.770	€ 1.830	€ 2.250
3 weeks	€ 1.940	€ 2.030	€ 2.540
4 weeks	€ 2.105	€ 2.225	-
5 weeks	€ 2.585	-	-
6 weeks	€ 2.840	-	-
Community Service Option (16-20 years)
Region 1 & 2	5 to 10 hours / week	11 to 15 hours/week
2 weeks	€ 2.080	€ 2.130
3 weeks	€ 2.340	€ 2.390
4 weeks	€ 2.600	€ 2.645
5 weeks	€ 2.870	€ 2.915
6 weeks	€ 2.870	€ 3.200
Business Education Experience (18-25 years)
Duration	Region 1	Region 2
4 weeks	€ 3.040	€ 3.160
5 weeks	€ 3.220	€ 3.370
6 weeks	€ 3.400	€ 3.580
7 weeks	€ 3.580	€ 3.790
8 weeks	€ 3.760	€ 4.000
9 weeks	€ 3.940	€ 4.210
10 weeks	€ 4.120	€ 4.420
11 weeks	€ 4.300	€ 4.630
12 weeks	€ 4.480	€ 4.840
Extra charges
Round trip transfers (East Coast)	€ 100

Prices include:

Homestay (host family) full board accommodation
Shared or single room
Placement in a non profit making organisation or private company (Community Service or Business Education Experience)
All administration fees
Transfers to and from the designated airport

Prices do not include:

Flight travel to and from the US
Local transportation (option Community Service between US$ 15 et US$ 25 per week or Business Education Experience between US$ 10 and US$ 25 per day)
Medical assistance for illness, accident, repatriation insurances (mandatory for any stay in the USA)
Optional cancellation guarantee
Visa fees (if any)