Sometime in April I believe, there will be two trips scheduled for my high school class as our big end-year voyage. These are going to be tours, scheduled with EF company. The options are a France + Italy trip, and a Japan one. Even though there is only a very slim chance that I'll be able to go, I still need advice in picking one, plus I'd like to hear some people's experiences with this company/related types of trips beforehand.
1. France/Italy
This is pretty much just Paris, Florence, and Rome. We'll get a few days in each, though I believe most of our time will be dedicated to Italian cities.
Pros: I can hold my own in French, and going to Paris and the other cities would be pretty awesome.
Cons:
- I know zero Italian, save words for food and art/music. (My cursory knowledge of Spanish may help me though...)
- the group of people going on this trip....they are going to annoy me to no end, begging me for translations and communication help while in Paris. stressed
2. Japan
We'll be going to Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara (if we want), and Hiroshima.
Pros: I've always wanted to visit Japan, and I feel that for my situation, it's easier for me to get to Europe than it is to East Asia, so I'd like to jump at this opportunity.
Cons: Japanese; I don't know it. I know words, expressions, and the things I've managed to learn and pick up about grammar and pronunciation. I'm essentially illiterate, but my knowledge of Japanese is probably higher than my knowledge of Italian, though I could increase my functional knowledge of Italian a lot quicker and easier than I probably could Japanese.
3. The tour company...
Please tell me about EF tours if you've had any experience with them...I've read some really awful reviews in addition to some very nice ones.
Pros: they're taking us to another country and...people said in reviews that they had fun? o_o
Cons:
- I want autonomy. I hate being shepherded around in a hyper-controlled manner, being, taken to all the little touristy attractions, and being selectively fed aspects of the country that some odd entity out there thought I came to the country to see. ><
I understand tour guides help you not wander into crime-infested areas and may help with language problems and such, but for this it just seems that there's a level of formula and control that really doesn't sit well with me. sad
- Things are done quickly, far too quickly. I would like to spend time in one of these places, not a few days incessantly moving from tourist attraction to tourist attraction in the capital. I want to see more and have time for more than just that. (And seriously...who wants to start seeing museums and monuments after getting off a 10/11 hour flight? gonk )
- Just Paris? Really? Watch, now I'll get to say that I've been to Paris, but not to France...*gripes*
I'd really like to see more of these countries than just the major cities. sweatdrop
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My questions:
1) which trip should I pick?
2) if I intensively studied Japanese or Italian for 5 or so months until April, how far do you reasonably think I could get?
3) EF tours: your opinion (if you've dealt with them)
4) your opinion of tour-things like this in general
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My thoughts:
- Part of me is very upset with myself for being ungrateful about this whole deal.
- I'm much more partial to the idea of going to Japan than Italy. (Again, sorry. ><)
- There will be about 5 people on the France/Italy trip, (don't know about Japan), that I actually like. The rest of the people going are uh...well, I really don't want to go on any sort of vacation with them. stressed
- I went to go spend some time with family in Hungary for a couple weeks about three years ago. Sure, we visited some touristy places and large cities, but we also just did normal/small things too...I felt I actually learned more from that experience than I would have learned had I just visited Budapest. I'm afraid that this experience will nag at me the whole time I'm in one of these countries, because I won't be getting the kind of experience I'd ideally want. sad
- Again, I am angry with myself for being ungrateful. whee
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