Overland : summer & semester programs for 10-19 year olds
open to grades 9-12 With staggering natural beauty and a rich history, Peru is an ideal location for language immersion, cultural engagement, outdoor exploration and service.
We’ll be based in colonial Cusco and the beautiful Sacred Valley town of Urubamba. Both of these locations offer excellent opportunities for exploration and cultural engagement. Daily native speaker language instruction, structured language immersion organized by Overland’s leaders, a week-long homestay and our service projects in a local school and orphanage will strengthen our language skills and give us the tools and confidence to delve deeply into Peruvian life.
A highlight of our time in Peru will be a challenging four-day trek along the historic Inca Trail. We’ll pass through breathtaking mountains and valleys on our way to the majestic Sun Gate and Machu Picchu—without a doubt one of the world’s most spectacular ruins. Next, we’ll travel south to Lake Titicaca. In this peaceful setting, we’ll have time to relax, rest our legs and get a glimpse of rural Peruvian life. At program’s end, we’ll celebrate our time together with an exciting rafting trip before returning to Lima with expanded horizons and a newly discovered confidence in our Spanish language skills.
For students who will finish grades 9-12 in June 2009.
Call us (800.458.0588) to check on current availability.
5 (1-10, 1 is easiest)
Families are responsible for making travel arrangements to and from J Chavez International Airport (Lima).
FLIGHT ARRIVAL: J Chavez International Airport (Lima) between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Sunday*
FLIGHT DEPARTURE: J Chavez International Airport (Lima) between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Saturday
*Please note: To arrive in Lima on Sunday morning, flights must depart from the U.S. on Saturday.
Our Language Immersion & Service Peru program begins with a flight from Lima to Cusco the day students arrive (Sunday, June 27), so it is important that you follow our guidelines to help make the trip run smoothly.
Trip Start
For students flying from the New York/New England area, you can fly directly from JFK to Lima on American Airlines 7711 departing JFK on Saturday, June 26, at 11:45 p.m. and arriving in Lima (LIM) at 6:40 a.m. on Sunday, June 27. Please note that this flight is operated by LAN Airlines. In our experience when scouting this trip, LAN operated smoothly and reliably.
For students from regions other than New York/New England please fly from your home airport to Miami (MIA) and connect there on American Airlines 2111 departing Saturday, June 26, at 11:55 p.m. and arriving in Lima (LIM) at 4:35 a.m. on Sunday, June 27.
Overland’s trip leaders will be in Lima at the airport to meet all arriving students.
Trip End
Our trip ends the morning of Saturday, July 24. Please take American Airlines 2110 departing Lima (LIM) at 6:55 a.m. and arriving in Miami (MIA) at 1:45 p.m. and from there connect on a flight to your home airport.
Overland’s trip leaders will oversee check in at the Lima airport and will remain in the airport until all students have departed.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding flights to Peru, please do not hesitate to call our office at 800-458-0588 and ask for Melissa or Kate. We’ll be happy to help you make your travel plans.
4 Weeks
Sunday, June 27 to Saturday, July 24
$6595 (airfare not included)
The LIS Peru program begins at the international airport in Lima where our Overland leaders will be on-hand to meet arriving students. When everyone has arrived, we'll rest up for our short flight to Cusco to begin our adventure.
In the colonial town of Cusco and Urubamba Village in the historic Sacred Valley of the Incas, we'll experience two weeks of service work and language instruction. Our service projects in a school and orphanage will give us the chance to make a difference in the lives of local children. We'll form lifelong friendships as we learn about the fascinating history, language and culture of Peru.
When we arrive in Cusco, students will meet with our expert teachers to be placed in smaller class groups (3-4 students) according to ability. We'll receive daily, native-speaker language instruction at Excel Language Center based in Cusco. Our leaders will also organize activities and games outside of class to further our language schools throughout each day.
A highlight of our time in Peru will be our trek to the world-famous ruins of Machu Picchu. We'll hike over challenging terrain for four days along the classic Inca Trail with professional and experienced guides. We'll bond as a group while we take in the natural beauty of the mountains and valleys surrounding the trail. On our fourth day, we'll arrive through the Sun Gate, taking in the majestic remnants of the Inca Empire. We'll spend a night in Aguas Calientes, the small town surrounding the ruins, to beat the tourist crowds and take the sunrise bus the next morning to get an intimate view of this incredible and historic site.
We will have an unbeatable immersion experience during our one-week homestay with a traditional Peruvian family. Our host families are carefully selected with the help of our language school in Peru. Students will live with families in pairs and within close distance of one another and the group leaders.
We will spend the majority of our time in Peru in simple group accommodations. We'll spend a week in pairs with our homestay families, and we will also be tent camping along the trek to Machu Picchu.
“Overland did a great job of balancing work and play.” Mary Cohen, Bethesda, Maryland
30 hours of service
40 hours of native-speaker, classroom-based instruction
30 hours of structured language immersion
One year of Spanish is required.
“Well-planned programs, professional staff, excellent leaders–Overland offers the whole package.” Jaki Suter, Westport, Connecticut
Language Immersion & Service Peru requires a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard as a volunteer. Participants should be eager to take part in a variety of service projects and be ready for both the challenges and rewards that summer service work in Peru offers.
Please note that one year of Spanish is required for Language Immersion & Service Peru.
Keep in mind that your enjoyment of this trip will hinge on certain factors:
Check back for a video of this trip soon. To see other trip videos click here.
Service, language learning and cultural understanding require dedication, selflessness and hard work. Begin your preparations for a great summer now by organizing your luggage, clothing and gear. As the summer nears, stay active and fit through sports and exercise. The more you prepare, the more you will enjoy your program. Then once your program starts, commit yourself wholeheartedly to your group and all of its activities.
Overland advises students traveling to Peru to consult with their family physician for information about traveling abroad.
On Peru programs we travel light—we cannot emphasize this enough. Please bring just one travel backpack (between 2500 and 4000 cubic in) and one small day pack for weekend excursions and day hikes. Experience has shown that this is the only way to go. Dimensions of the travel backpack should not exceed 22"H x 14"W x 9"D if used as a carry-on, however it may be larger if you plan to check this luggage at the airport. We recommend travel backpacks from REI, EMS and LL Bean. Use your day pack to carry essentials on the plane (but do not use this bag as additional luggage space). Be sure to tag all items with your name, address and phone number. If you are checking your travel pack as luggage, ask the airline to bag it for you. This will help protect the pack.
Please stick to the following guidelines when packing for your program; your group will have access to laundry on a weekly basis. In many of the places we visit, it is culturally inappropriate for girls to wear short skirts, short shorts or spaghetti-strap tank tops; this clothing can bring unwanted and possibly unpleasant attention. Please pack accordingly. Be sure to bring comfortable clothes that can get dirty, paint-splattered and worn while volunteering.
Note: Please do not bring any type of knife or multi-tool (e.g., Swiss Army Knife, Leatherman).
We do not permit personal electronics on our programs (for example, cellphones and iPods). We do, however, allow students who fly to their program to carry a cell phone while traveling; on arrival, Overland's leaders will collect all cell phones for the duration of the program and return them for flights home. Perhaps, a better option would be to bring a pre-paid phone card so that the leaders do not have to carry cell phones for the duration of the program.
Below is the Admissions Material packet and other information for Language Immersion & Service Peru.
Flight & Travel Information 2010
We welcome your interest in joining Overland this summer!
To apply, please complete and sign the application on page 47 of the Overland catalog or download an application. (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download the application).
Please refer to page 46 of our catalog for important information you should know before signing the application.
Send your application and $795 deposit to:
Overland
P.O. Box 31
Williamstown, MA 01267
For overnight mail via UPS or FedEx, please use our street address:
Overland
63 Spring Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
Sorry, we are unable to accept applications by fax, and we do not take credit cards. Applications are reviewed in the order in which they arrive at our office and we cannot hold spots over the phone.
To learn about our admissions process, please click here.
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Overland Programs offers more than 40 different trips including New England summer camps and hiking adventures for tweens (5th graders and 6th graders), hiking trips for teens, teen bike trips in Europe and America, and teen summer service programs. Whether you're looking for a language immersion program, summer programs abroad or service programs abroad, summer writing programs, environmental studies programs, teen adventure travel trips, a field studies program, or even a gap year semester in Spain, you're sure to find a program here which will create lasting memories, capture the imagination, and strengthen physical, emotional and social skills. Overland is not simply a summer or semester-long experience—it's a life experience with value and resonance that extends far beyond the boundaries of a young person's time with us.
Overland leaders are students and recent alumni from top colleges and universities, including many schools in the Ivy League and NESCAC as well as other elite schools across the country. Overland leaders are campus leaders, varsity athletes, sports captains, peer counselors, outdoor guides, and honors students. All leaders are First Aid, CPR, and lifeguard certified.
Overland Programs, also known as Overland Summers and even as Overland Adventures, is proud to have ACA accredited summer programs, teen summer camps, teen summer adventures, teen travel, teen summer programs, teenage camps, teen adventure programs, teen adventure trips, summer camp programs, summer programs abroad, language immersion courses abroad, teen bike trips, teen bicycle tours, teen summer service programs and New England camps which are held to the highest safety standards.
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