The Accommodation Dilemma For Foreign Students

Are you considering a foreign education program in the US but concerned about the standard of accommodation once you get there? Your choice may be a college summer program, a second language school, or a university degree course. The problem still remains. How do you go about finding safe, comfortable AND cheap accommodation for the duration of your studies?

University accommodation and specially designated students apartments, although often very close to your place of study, do not always offer the comfort and security of a home environment.

An increasingly popular solution is to find a homestay family who will accommodate you whilst
you are attending the local educational facility. You may be wondering ‘what exactly is a homestay?’ Simply put, a homestay is a household that offers a room, or rooms, in their home to visitors usually from another country.

There are many advantages to staying in somebody’s house instead of the usual type of student accommodation. Firstly it’s likely to be very comfortable and secure. You’ll have access to many facilities that would not be found in the average student apartment. Secondly, you don’t have to worry about going home to an empty room every night. Student host families realize that it can be quite a daunting experience for foreign students who are living away from home for the first time, so they will do everything they can to make you feel a part of their family. You’ll also get the benefit of your host’s local knowledge and help in adjusting to the customs and culture of a new environment. Last but to some the most important feature, student homestay’s often work out cheaper than other forms of accommodation.

So now you know a bit about the benefits, the next question is how do you find a homestay? We all know that you can search the Internet and find cheap international flights for students. The same is true for homestay accommodation. You’ll find many websites on the Internet offering homestay accommodation. With such a large selection of sites to choose from, how do you ensure that you select the best homestay? Discover as many details as possible about the homestay in advance. Look for photographs of the family and accommodation. Make sure you know exactly what is included in the price. For example, does the property have Wi-Fi Internet access? Can you use the laundry facilities? Just as importantly, are there any specific rules that you need to know?

If possible, find out why the homeowner has decided to become a host family. Some householders specifically state that they want to provide a homestay environment for international students. Maybe they have experienced an international cultural exchange in the past or their offspring have. Or maybe they simply want to extend the hand of friendship to a visitor from overseas. Make sure you know exactly what is included in the price.

How to Choose the Right School for Photography

The field of photography is exciting; imagine creating wonderful images with nothing more than your keen eye and a camera. If you are thinking about starting a career in this field, you will need to develop some skills and a background in the field. Toward this end a good education, proper coaching and a mentor are invaluable. When you have all of these in place and are willing to put in the work and practice required you will soon be graced with the title, professional photographer.As with any profession you should do some research on proper schools, choosing the photography institution that best fits your requirements. Below are a few key areas you will want to consider when you begin looking for a great photography education.Begin your search by considering the big picture of your photography career. The best school for you will be one that is best aligned with your specific photography goals. There are many different sub-genres of photography, much as with any business, as well as a broad range of categories. For instance, you may be interested in portrait photography instead of sports, or weddings instead of portraits. You might be in the position that you just want a general overview of photography as a whole, and that is okay too, just choose a school that serves your needs and wants. Remember, if you have a specialize interest look for an institution that best serves this specialization. It is your money and time after all and you want to be in the best position possible to begin your professional career.You probably already know this, however it bears repeating, photography is more than point and shoot. Professionals need a wide skillset to be successful including marketing, mathematics, business management and a good eye. These are more criteria you should use for choosing an appropriate photography school. Eventually you will be out on your own and many photographers prefer to go into business for themselves, which means business management will be key.It is appropriate to ask about the ratio of students to teachers when considering a photography school. When there are large classes, it can be difficult to get the proper instruction. This is a field that requires teachers to provide valuable hands on supervision to each student, which will be hard to accomplish in a large class.Technology today is much more advanced than just a few short years ago which means you will likely need education about computers. Make sure the school you are considering offers at least basic computer skills and perhaps advanced classes. Digital photography is really the wave of the future and you want to be prepared to use this technology to its fullest. There is also the issue of specialty computer software you may be interested in learning about. Photography is a very competitive field and the more knowledge and education you have the better.Finally, you should remember that education is rarely free. Unless you are extremely fortunate and have all of your funding in order, you may need to check into available financial assistance or scholarships. Inquire about these programs up front before applying for admission. Cost of classes is not the only expense you may encounter; you may need some photography equipment as well. Each school should list what equipment they will provide and what you will need to bring with you on the first day of class. This will figure into the total cost of your photography education.These are just a few recommendations for how to choose the best photography schools. Use this list as a basic guideline as you are conducting research, soon you will be well on your way to a profitable career as a professional photographer.

Buy Term Life Insurance Today

Term life insurance is a simple form of insurance that can provide peace of mind for you and your family. Term life insurance is simply insurance cover that lasts for a restricted time. If you’re on a low budget and you buy term life insurance, you will get excellent temporary cover. Once it has run its course, you can buy it again, renew it or extend it, or you can leave it expired. Term life insurance will pay out if the you die, provided it’s within term.If you buy life insurance, it isn’t a way of building up a cash lump sum. There’s a level premium that’s set depending on factors such as age, health, location or other factors the insurance company deems important. The younger you are the lower the risk the insurance provider sees you as.Term life insurance is good for the insurance company. The number of claims is very low at around one in 100. This is beneficial to the insured as the premiums are kept low. If there happens to be a payout to dependents, it will usually be a very generous one.This all means that buying term life cover is great on a coverage per premium basis, as there is such a slim chance of the insurer having to pay out.With term life insurance, certain complications do arise. For instance, insurability is an important issue. You could buy a life policy covering just one year and be diagnosed with cancer within the term. However, you might not actually die until after the term life insurance has expired. This would make you unfortunately uninsured.However, there is a feature on some term life insurance policies called guaranteed reinsurability that gets around the issue. This will let you renew your insurance without needing to prove your insurability.Annual renewable term is another variant of term life insurance. You would pay for one year’s cover, but be given a guarantee that your policy can carry on each year for an agreed period of between 10 and 30 years. The premium is greater for a years cover, however there is a higher chance of the policy paying out.You must keep up with the payments on your life insurance policy once you have purchased it, though. Failure to do so could mean your dependents not being paid out if you die. For that reason, it’s best to automate your term life insurance payments by paying by direct debit. You could also do worse than have some independent expert assess your small print, too, as failure to disclose even the smallest health problems could render your term life insurance policy invalid.Copyright (c) 2009 Mark Walpole

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