Juan lived in the Hispanic suburbs of Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. He was studying at university and had been planning to take a gap year at the end of the following academic year. He wanted to travel around Europe as he´d heard so much about its history and culture and was excited at the prospect of seeing famous tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower in France, the remnants of the Berlin Wall in Germany, Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard ceremony in England, Dublin Castle in Ireland and most of all the magnificent Sagrada Família in Spain. He wanted to see the spectacular tulip fields in Holland, the gondolas in Venice and the breathtaking Swiss Alps. There were so many amazing places to visit and he was determined to do them all!

In order to make the most of this once in a lifetime trip, Juan needed to learn one commonly spoken language for the countries in Europe: English. Living in Philadelphia and attending university there, he´d obviously picked up the basics here and there but he generally spoke Spanish at home and within his community. In order to survive properly for a year and reap the benefits from each country to their fullest, he really needed to gain a wider vocabulary and increase his fluency of the English language.

He searched for some intensive English courses in Philadelphia where he could study in a group of like-minded and motivated individuals. The lessons were fun and interesting, with unique teaching techniques that he´d not expected from a language course. He rapidly progressed and was surprised at the amount he took on board in such a short space of time. Crossing off each week on his calendar, his fluency in English grew and so did his excitement at his fast approaching European experience!