EVERY year, students around the world fly across countries to participate in summer programs. This article aims to dissect a few of these experiences. Natalie and Kassandra, both of Maine, are taking up French studies in a university there. Natalie is even the president of the French club there. They are already about to enter their seventh and second to the last academic semester in college and when the university had two spots for a summer in Paris, the two were lucky to be the ones who had grabbed it. And they never regretted their summer soiree in that city. Paris is said to be the most romantic place in the world even though it is filled with cramped flats. But Natalie and Kassandra were able to meet new friends, about a dozen of them, all speaking fluent French.

The two felt at home because they had already acquired French as a second language back in their native Maine. Besides, they found their friends as highly intellectual, conversational and friendly. Their friends were able to tour them around the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Eiffel of Tower, the Shakespeare Library and many other places worth amusing. They even invited Natalie and Kassandra a few nights to stay in their respective homes. Now, they even have suitors coming from Paris across the Atlantic.

It’s not just having a summer program abroad which is enjoying though. At home, one can still indulge in summer activities even though the person is still a primary school student. If a parent wants to instill discipline to his ten-year-old child, then he or she may enroll his male or female child to a military-style summer camp. In a military-style summer camp which lasts for about a month, students must be awakened by 5 p.m. through a horn and do some personal hygiene like removing their bowels and taking a shower. By 6 a.m., they all file themselves in the mess hall and commence their breakfast. After breakfast, they will have a 30-minute personal time to change into decent clothes to prepare themselves for the day’s activity. The day’s activity which is both cognitive and physical will last up to 1:30 in the afternoon. There are snacks served in the morning and lunchtime is exactly at 12 noon. From 1:30 p.m. onwards, students in the military-style school camp are enjoying their personal time again. By 10 p.m., all entertainment electrical appliances such as television, movie player, game console and subwoofer system as well as the lights must be shut off. That does not include the air conditioner or the heater though depending on the appropriate weather of the place. If the military-style summer camp is spent in Lake Tahoe where high temperatures cannot penetrate the place even during summer, then heaters must be used instead of air conditioners.

There are literally tons of other ideas on how to spend the summer. There are sports clinics around the country to spend one’s summer. These include mini-trainings in basketball, swimming, soccer, karate, muay Thai, capoeira, fencing, aikido, jujitsu, ballet and other endurance sports.