Trip Details
| Trip duration: | 6 weeks |
|---|---|
| When: | June 30 — August 11, 2011 (subject to slight change) |
| Where: | France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and/or other countries in continental Western Europe (all accessed via Eurail train). Our itinerary is flexible and will evolve in response to student desires. |
| Departure/Arrival Cities: | New York City / Paris |
| Who: | 8 students ages 18-20 with a firm minimum age of 18! Plus trip leader & assistant Blake and Cooper. |
| How Much: | $4,500 tuition includes accommodations, meals, 2-month/10-day train pass, group activities, laundry, and internet. Tuition does not include personal spending money or international airfare. Estimated roundtrip airfare cost from NYC: $1000. |
| Application Status: | Open! Apply now. Phone interviews start in October 2010. |
| Priority Application Deadline: | December 1, 2010. On this date we will make our first round of enrollment offers. Apply beforehand for your best chance at enrolling! |
Trip Purpose
Every Unschool Adventure trip is created with specific purposes in mind. Here's what we'll set out to accomplish:
Redefining the European Backpacking Experience
You've recently become a legal adult, you want to get out of the country, and backpacking around Europe sounds like the ticket. But so do thousands of high school graduates and other young adults, and they create a very beaten path. How can you experience Europe as a backpacker without getting sucked into the tourist traps? How can you get a truly local perspective on Europe?
Eurosurf is the Unschool Adventures answer. For six weeks our group will travel around Western Europe using Couchsurfing to meet and stay with European young adults. When CS (couchsurfing) hosts are not available, we'll stay at hostels. The trip leaders will organize the couchsurfing endeavor--which will require constant attention--and ensure that students always stay in safe locations.
Our itinerary will include both "must-see" tourist destinations (e.g. Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Colosseum) and local attractions, events, and spontaneous gatherings suggested by our CS hosts. Instead of largely purchasing our entertainment (like a traditional European backpacker), we'll focus on creating our own fun, food, and in-depth cultural experiences. Eurosurf is designed to help you explore Western Europe in a unique way, learn how to travel independently, and do it all with the support of fellow unschoolers and trip leaders.
As a trip for independent young adults (ages 18-20), we will rely extensively upon group members to create the trip itinerary. There will be lots of flexibility in our choice of countries, lengths of stay, and activities. This will be a truly self-designed Unschool Adventure.
(If you've never heard of Couchsurfing, please read about Couchsurfing and Couchsurfing Safety. Also see our FAQ below concerning safety.)
Couchsurfing: 2 million friends waiting to be made!
Photo & Video Blogging
Snapping photos is a straightforward way to record your travels, but it's easy to forget the stories behind the photos once you get home. On a trip like this one, you'll want to remember every moment! And you'll want to prove to the skeptics that CS hosts are, unconditionally, the nicest people on the planet.
To do this, each student and staff member will take photos and/or videos and keep a running journal for each day of the trip. We'll then upload it all to a public blog site once a week. The photos & videos will be the main content of the blog, and the accompanying text--a few sentences or paragraphs--will explain what's going on. Blogging will be a great way to remember the details of your trip, hone your writing skills, and keep friends and family updated. Check out this example of an excellent photoblog site.
Additionally, if the group is motivated to share our couchsurfing experiences with the greater community, we may attempt to create the first-ever "How to Couchsurf Europe" handbook. By drawing on our blog material and writing a few additional articles, we could create a totally fascinating handbook, distribute it for free online, and enable hundreds of other people to contribute to the Couchsurfing vision:
We envision a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places we encounter. Building meaningful connections across cultures enables us to respond to diversity with curiosity, appreciation and respect. The appreciation of diversity spreads tolerance and creates a global community.
Learning European Cooking
When in Rome... learn to cook like an Italian! By staying with locals and focusing on cooking for ourselves, we'll have the incredible opportunity to learn to cook European dishes from Europeans themselves. Perhaps your host in Germany will have a favorite bratwurst (or vegetarian "tofwurst"?) recipe that he'll teach you, or your Swiss host will teach you how to pick an Alps greens salad. We'll explore local markets, host dinner parties, and generally fill our bellies. The possibilites are endless--and delicious.
Learning to Travel Internationally (On the Cheap)
During this trip you'll create your own Couchsurfing profile (see the UA director's profile), build up references from your hosts, and become very good at seeking out hosts in multiple languages & countries (with the support of fellow unschoolers and trip leaders). After the trip, you can use your Couchsurfing profile and ninja skills to travel even more, inside the USA or abroad! (Do a search to see where you might go!) Couchsurfing has over 2 million members worldwide, and it's growing. If you're interested in inexpensive global travel, this trip will give you skills to make that dream possible.
Trip Itinerary
The trip itinerary will be planned by students and staff together, both before and during the trip. We can travel anywhere within these countries. We won't visit the United Kingdom or Scandanavian countries (but you can stay afterward and visit them yourself!). Possible & probable destinations include:
- Paris, France
- Berlin, Germany
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Vienna, Austria
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Rome, Italy
- Florence, Italy
- Barcelona, Spain
Joining this trip requires flexibility and a willingness to compromise with other group members regarding travel destinations. Our group will always stay together: we won't split up and travel to two separate destinations at the same time. We will split up within destination cities in order to accommodate different desires, schedules, etc.
Want to spend more time in Europe and visit specific destinations? Feel free to stay in Europe after our group departs to embark on your own adventures!
Everyday Activities
- Group meeting
- Cultural immersion & informal language practice
- Internet access (including e-mail and Skype) available at most locations
- Searching for couchsurfing hosts
- Assisting in meal preparation, cooking, and/or clean-up
- Photography and journaling
- Free/unstructured time for exploration, R&R, and spontaneous fun
Frequently Asked Questions
*Please read our general International FAQ for answers to common questions!*
Is Couchsurfing safe?
Couchsurfing has an overwhelmingly positive safety record and a 99.6% "positive experience" rate according to its members. Our group will take measures above and beyond those that Couchsurfing suggests to find appropriate hosts to ensure student comfort and safety. We'll always surf in pairs; trip leaders will supervise host choices; we'll follow a set of rules for selecting hosts (e.g. don't pick the host who loves "wild partying 24/7"); and if a sleeping situation ever seems questionable, we'll immediately book a hostel room. Parents, trip leaders, and students will engage in a lengthy safety dialog prior the trip and students will receive a full safety orientation (with scenario role-playing) on the first day.
Will our Couchsurfing hosts speak English?
Sometimes! Most young adults in Europe know some English. Be prepared to learn German, or French, or Italian, or Czech, on the fly!
How long will we generally stay in each country? Will we only go to one city in each country?
We'll stay in each country an average of six days. Some smaller countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands lend themselves to less time; bigger countries like Italy demand more. Inside of each country, we'll likely visit 1-3 cities depending on student interest.
How often will we stay in hostels and other sleeping situations?
When couchsurfing hosts are not available, we will stay in youth hostels. We're budgeting for roughly one-fourth of the travel nights to be spent in hostels. Sometimes we'll sleep on overnight trains. We will not do any outdoor camping.
How will the group make itinerary decisions?
Before the trip, our group will correspond via e-mail to narrow down our list of desired countries. During the trip, we'll use a democratic decision-making process to vote on itinerary decisions. In the case of conflict, trip leaders will make the ultimate decision regarding itinerary.
What about drinking?
In Europe there is a culture of drinking at early ages (often starting at 16 or 17), and the legal drinking age in all European countries is 18 (or younger). Many of the cultural activities include alcohol in some shape or form. As such, Eurosurf students will be allowed an exception to UA zero-tolerance drinking policy. Mature behavior will be expected at all times, and all students will sign a contract agreeing that irresponsible drinking will lead to expulsion from the trip. Unschool Adventures strongly believes that international travel is best experienced with little or no alcohol.
What is the role of the staff on this trip?
The staff's primary duty on Eurosurf will be to supervise the Couchsurfing endeavor. They will review all CS hosting placements, make visits to hosts' houses, and maintain 24/7 cell phone availability for student safety. They will also provide solid leadership for group decision-making, resolve conflicts that will inevitably arise when determining the European itinerary, book hostels, organize meals, and budget for activities. And, as always, they will ensure students' emotional and physical safety.
*Please read our general International FAQ for answers to common questions!*
Ready to Enroll?
Apply by filling out our online application. We'll then get in touch and do a phone interview. Enrollment will be offered beginning on the date of the Priority Application Deadline (see above). After being offered enrollment, a $500 non-refundable deposit is required to secure your spot.
Have More Questions?
Contact us via e-mail or phone and we'll be happy to answer your questions.