Planning your Study Trip
WHEN COURSES BEGIN AND HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRAVEL DATES
For the majority of schools we work with, classes for adults begin every Monday and finish every Friday. This means that you will have to arrive in your destination country the day before the course starts. It is often possible to arrive on the Saturday, which will give you the benefit of getting settled into the city or town before starting school, getting to know your host family or accommodation providers, start to recover from jet lag for some trips, and sometimes take advantage of lower priced fares on Saturday. Sometimes it is possible to arrive on Saturday for no extra charge, and at other times it will involve a fee of one night’s extra stay. At the end of the course, you will usually need to vacate your accommodation by the Saturday after the course ends, but it is often possible to stay until Sunday if flights are not available on Saturday and/or are much more costly. If you arrived in the accommodation on the Sunday before the course, you may not need to pay for an extra night, but the agent will check the school’s policy on accommodation booking, as is the case with a Saturday arrival.
In some schools, classes for complete beginners in the language to be studied begin on the first Monday of the month or on specific days during the year. There may also be suggested start dates for general language classes on certain dates of the year that occur less often than every Monday, which usually means that the school will provide a special orientation to new students starting their lessons on these dates.
Courses for Business, or the use of the language for special purposes like Law or Medicine, or classes for exams usually have specific start dates.
WHEN TO BOOK YOUR STUDY TRIP
You should book your study trip as soon as you are sure that you want to do it. Most schools don’t have enrolment deadlines, but especially in high season, the most popular courses and the most desirable accommodations fill up quickly. The longer you wait, the more you will also pay in airfare and/or train travel. With some schools, if you book early, you can also take advantage of early bird specials, in which the savings can be significant. Marshall Language Services also has its own early bird discounts (check the special offers section of our website.) If you book your trip and your flight early, you can purchase an inexpensive insurance policy that covers any cancellation costs in case you are no longer able to go. In any case, the cancellation policy of the school applies to all bookings, regardless of when they were made. You do not risk losing more by booking early in case you have to cancel.
STUDENT VISAS
For most of the countries in which Marshall Language Services offers courses, particularly those which are part of the European Community, Italian citizens do not need student visas. The only major exception to this group is the United States of America, which requires students to take out a visa for intensive courses or courses that are longer than 90 days, the maximum amount of time in which Italians can travel there on the visa waiver program. However, even with the visa waiver, non-US citizen travelers to the USA must still register online with ESTA. For students traveling to the US for language courses, we will provide specific information about the necessity of a student visa for that course, and on request, provide our instruction sheet on how to obtain a student visa. We will also advise on the specific requirements for studying a language in other countries that require visas for Italian citizens.
INSURANCE FOR ALL STUDY ABROAD TRIPS
Marshall Language Services partners with the Canadian company Guard.me and the German company CareMed, two insurance companies who offer students coverage for medical assistance, travel assistance, third party liability and trip cancellation. These policies are also available for travel companions who are not enrolled on a course. We can provide quotes for coverage upon request.
AIRPORT, RAILWAY AND PORT TRANSFER SERVICES
The schools whom Marshall Language Services represents generally offer transfers to and from airports, railway stations, and seaports, in the form of private taxis whose drivers meet students in the arrival halls of these places. These services are highly recommended for students under 18 on adult programs who are not traveling with adults, and for adults, they are especially useful for those who do not have a good command of the language in the destination or who are traveling to countries with cultures very different from Europe and the Western part of the world, and whose languages are not written in the Western alphabet. Otherwise, for adults who feel confident enough to be able to take public transportation to their accommodation, we can advise on the best way to do so. Very often a public taxi can provide a direct transfer for less than a car hired by the school, and there is no risk of having to pay overtime hours to a driver who has to wait for a delayed flight.
