Help Needed With US Vacation

[21C]

Here is the rough plan. My 14 year old daughter was interested in doing a student exchange to the US. She was put off by the idea about spending 6 months to a year away from home - and the cost factor of this seemed a bit high to us.

I had been considering a US trip this year to stay in one city and go to as many MLB games in that time. I had done a trip 12 years ago where I travelled around the country and attended a few NFL and MLB games as I went. I didn't want to do a lot of major travel but was considering somewhere that had a couple of teams relatively close by - somewhere like Baltimore/DC.

I suggested the possibility of combining the two. We would go around the start of the school year which would be near the end of the baseball season and I might even be able to catch some football games as well.

Here are my questions.

• When does the school year start? I realize that it probably varies from state to state but I'm guessing it's around early September.
• What school year would she be in? She is currently 14 1/2 years old and is in Year 9 - high school goes up to Year 12 here.
• Do schools allow short term enrolments? I'm thinking of something like a 4 to 6 week period. I'm also hoping to enrol her in a Catholic school but that's not a major issue.
• What options do we have for renting? I would prefer not to live out of a hotel room for that length of time and I imagine many landlords are looking for longer term leases. In Australia we have serviced apartments which are basically hotels with small living areas. Is there something like this for around 4 weeks? I haven't considered how much I'm willing to pay yet. I don't want something super cheap but I'm not looking for anything too extravagant either.

So basically what I'm looking for are some ideas. My daughter is looking for the all-American high school experience - my interpretation, not her words. I'm looking for something in a major league city - no preference since I've never had a favorite baseball team that I've stuck with (although I'm a huge TB Bucs fan).

I'm also thinking I'd like somewhere that has good public transport since I wasn't planning on renting a car for the entire time. If anyone has a house or apartment that they need filling for a short time then let me know. All ideas and sugestions are gratefully accepted.

[cartman]

You are correct about the start time. Most schools start around Labor Day (first Monday in September). Our high schools go up to Year 12 as well, so that matches up as well. As for short term enrollment, I'm not sure how that would work. You might have more luck contacting a private school (not sure what the designation is in Australia. Here, public schools are open to every one for free, private schools are ones you have to pay a tuition to go to). There are exchange student programs out there that handle all of those logistical issues for you.

In regards to the housing piece, there are quite a few places like you describe. A lot of time these are called corporate apartments, or extended stay hotels. Most US cities have crap public transport, so if this is a requirement, it will drastically reduce your options.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

From a sports perspective, the Baltimore/DC area is a great place to be. Here's all the teams within a 3 hour drive (or train ride) of Baltimore..........

NHL
Capitals
Islanders
Rangers
Flyers

NFL
Redskins
Eagles
Giants
Jets
Ravens

MLB
Nationals
Orioles
Phillies
Yankees
Mets

In addition, there are many D-I colleges within a similar range where you can catch some football during that time. There's a lot of good rivalries in that area, both pro and college. It's a lot of fun during the fall.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

Most US cities have crap public transport, so if this is a requirement, it will drastically reduce your options.

The East Coast area around Baltimore/DC where he had mentioned has great train service to all the major cities at a pretty reasonable price. Airfare to the other New England cities in the area is also extremely affordable.

[21C]

Originally Posted by cartman

Most US cities have crap public transport, so if this is a requirement, it will drastically reduce your options.

I remembered catching the bus to a couple of games in the past but I realized that they were football games which put on special services. I now remember driving to the baseball games. The public transport/car rental is not a dealbreaker.

[Passacaglia]

Chicago's a good city for taking the train to baseball games. Both the Cubs and White Sox play right by the Red Line. You'd want to be in the suburbs so your daughter can get the "all-american experience" (all-american means suburbs to me), but there's a decent train service from the suburbs. Milwaukee's an hour (maybe hour and a half) train ride away, and I think their new stadium is walking distance from that. Bears games are a bit of a hike from any train station, but definitely doable (maybe half-mile to a mile walk). College football games in Madison (Wisconsin) or South Bend (Notre Dame) would probably require a car ride, but are big stadiums. There's probably charter busses to Champaign (Illinois), too. Northwestern plays in Evanston, and while it's not as grand of an environment as the last three, it's also close to the Chicago city trains, and you can see them play other Big Ten teams without having to rent a car (and tickets rarely sell out, which may be a problem for those other teams).

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

The East Coast area around Baltimore/DC where he had mentioned has great train service to all the major cities at a pretty reasonable price. Airfare to the other New England cities in the area is also extremely affordable.

Gonna fly to go get groceries and run errands?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by 21C

I remembered catching the bus to a couple of games in the past but I realized that they were football games which put on special services. I now remember driving to the baseball games. The public transport/car rental is not a dealbreaker.

Ok, that opens up the options a lot. Most of the "desirable" schools across the country are located away from city centers and are in the suburbs. And in most US urban locations, there are limited pubic transit options for the suburbs.

[21C]

Actually Chicago sounds intriguing since that's one major city I haven't been to in my previous trips.

Keep the ideas coming, guys! I will going to bed soon but I would really like as much feedback as I can get. My daughter is getting pretty excited about the trip too.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

Gonna fly to go get groceries and run errands?

There's local train and bus service in all east coast cities. There's a lot of people on the east coast who don't own vehicles for that reason.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Another place I would mention is Southern California. Plenty of MLB and NFL teams in the area and a lot of fun places to visit as a tourist. San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego would all be easy weekend trips in addition to the wine country. Mass transit there isn't as good as on the east coast, but it's still adequate.

[JonInMiddleGA]

When does the school year start? I realize that it probably varies from state to state but I'm guessing it's around early September.

Increasingly there's a trend toward starting as early as early August. And in some (a relative few AFAIK) there's also a year-round calendar that takes 2-4 breaks in lieu of a traditional summer vacation.

What school year would she be in? She is currently 14 1/2 years old and is in Year 9 - high school goes up to Year 12 here.

Depends upon the state I believe. Different states have different age requirements for beginning school, for example in Georgia the rule reads:
A child must be five years old on or before September 1 to enter a public Kindergarten. The child must be six years old on or before September 1 to enter first grade. So if 6 y/o is first grade then she's somewhere in the 9th to 10th grade age range.

Do schools allow short term enrolments? I'm thinking of something like a 4 to 6 week period. I'm also hoping to enrol her in a Catholic school but that's not a major issue.

I'd say that one is extremely location by location. Some will, some won't, but in order to enroll you'll typically have to show proof of residency. The better the school, the more likely they'll have strict requirements. YMMV a lot more with private schools, Catholic or otherwise, but be prepared for some significant tuition costs in many cases as well as other hoops to jump through (letters from priests/archdiocese/etc).

I have to be honest, I can't say I've ever heard of anything like what you're proposing. It isn't a bad idea IMO, and I like that you're trying to accomodate something your daughter wants but to be honest I'd say you're going to make an awful lot of phone calls & do a lot of explaining to people who have no concept of what you're trying to pull off. One possible route might be to speak with a guidance counselor/whomever administers the more traditional exchange student program at a quality school/school system. They'll probably be able to offer a good bit of direction even if they aren't personally able to accomodate your request.

Good luck.

[Passacaglia]

I have to be honest, I can't say I've ever heard of anything like what you're proposing. It isn't a bad idea IMO, and I like that you're trying to accomodate something your daughter wants but to be honest I'd say you're going to make an awful lot of phone calls & do a lot of explaining to people who have no concept of what you're trying to pull off. One possible route might be to speak with a guidance counselor/whomever administers the more traditional exchange student program at a quality school/school system. They'll probably be able to offer a good bit of direction even if they aren't personally able to accomodate your request.

I agree with this. Also, you might want to avoid calling it a vacation. If you say you have to be here for work, my hunch is that you'll get less weird looks and more accommodation about it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I agree with this. Also, you might want to avoid calling it a vacation. If you say you have to be here for work, my hunch is that you'll get less weird looks and more accommodation about it.

Good call.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

There's local train and bus service in all east coast cities. There's a lot of people on the east coast who don't own vehicles for that reason.

Careful though, depending upon how you're defining "east coast". If you're talking truly about the "coast" & major cities (top 10-20 markets) then you're probably right. But if you're talking about the eastern third or eastern quarter of the U.S. then there's a lot that really don't fit that.

Most of the ones I know best have metro areas that include suburbs in their definition but have limited access (at best) to public transportation in those areas. Off the top of my head there isn't a city in the southeast that's oriented toward public transportation, and few in the mid-atlantic region (both of which can be referred to as east coast cities if you're defining the area broadly).

[cartman]

It is not that uncommon. When I was in high school, we had several foreign students attend for only one semester. I think the one semester scenario is more common in private schools than public schools, where usually an exchange student is there for an entire school year.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Careful though, depending upon how you're defining "east coast". If you're talking truly about the "coast" & major cities (top 10-20 markets) then you're probably right. But if you're talking about the eastern third or eastern quarter of the U.S. then there's a lot that really don't fit that.

Most of the ones I know best have metro areas that include suburbs in their definition but have limited access (at best) to public transportation in those areas. Off the top of my head there isn't a city in the southeast that's oriented toward public transportation, and few in the mid-atlantic region (both of which can be referred to as east coast cities if you're defining the area broadly).

I'm referring to the major cities in New England through DC. Out here in the Plains, we basically consider anything south of DC as being the Deep South, not the East Coast. I'm sure that changes based on where you live.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by cartman

It is not that uncommon. When I was in high school, we had several foreign students attend for only one semester. I think the one semester scenario is more common in private schools than public schools, where usually an exchange student is there for an entire school year.

But 4-6 weeks is a lot different from one semester, which I think of as from September to the end of January for high school.

[21C]

The closest I can compare this to are some short term enrolments we have had at my Catholic high school - I'm a Math teacher. We have enrolled students for as little as four weeks but I don't know how atypical that is. We are a sytemic school which means that all of the schools in the area are organized by a centralized office. The families have usually been here for work but it would be a bit funny for me, as a teacher, to say that I'm there for work. I suppose I could lie.

It is good to actually hear some of this feedback and tell Kiara about this in the morning. It may have to be a straight vacation in the end but I'll keep exploring my options.

[cartman]

If you are interested in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, I can put you in touch with the Catholic high school I attended.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by 21C

The closest I can compare this to are some short term enrolments we have had at my Catholic high school - I'm a Math teacher. We have enrolled students for as little as four weeks but I don't know how atypical that is. We are a sytemic school which means that all of the schools in the area are organized by a centralized office.

Thinking about this a bit, I'm wondering if your eventual location should be either in the northeastern U.S. (where I believe Catholic schools are most common & therefore larger/more organized) or in a city elsewhere where research would show a particularly strong cluster of them (I'm going to guess Miami would fit that description just as one example).

edit to add:

My daughter is looking for the all-American high school experience - my interpretation, not her words.

You might want to get a little narrower definition from her about that. Heck, I'm not sure there really is any universal "all-American high school experience" at this point, given the variances that exist from region to region. And, to be frank, I'm not sure how many Catholic schools in the U.S. would fit that definition if you asked most Americans. It's often quite a different world, almost unto itself (which is why they're popular in some ways).

[JediKooter]

I say, go where you think you and your daughter will have the most fun and enjoyment out of your trip.

San Diego is nice (when it's not on fire), you have the Chargers, Padres, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, Ducks, Clippers and Lakers all within a 2 1/2 to 3 hour radius. If you want to go to Las Vegas, it's only a 6 hour drive from San Diego. You would be (depending on where you stay) 5 minutes to 20 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, an hour away from the mountains, hour and a half away from the desert. Disneyland is only about an hour to and hour and a half from where I live in San Diego. Universal Studios and Hollywood are about 2 hours away.

The Poway school district is the best school district in San Diego county. It's public schools, but, they are (most of them at least) the better schools in the county. The All-American high school experience sounds like to me what you see on TV or movies. I've never been to a private school here, but, to me, the TV and movie representations of American schools seem to be of public schools most of the time.

I hope you and your daughter have a fun time while here. Maybe you could write a dynasty about your trip to America.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

The All-American high school experience sounds like to me what you see on TV or movies.

My wife & I discussed that very point a bit but the ones that came to mind were either the private school in Zoey 101 or the less-than-attractive public school settings for show's like Ned or iCarly (which really does little with the school itself).

I suppose in the early teen's something like DeGrassi might be a representative sample of the current image and there might be a couple of CW/MyNetwork/WB shows that have some representation, I'm not really sure.

But the most prominent high school I can recall featured in the past 20 years or so would probably be the one from 90210 and that's probably pretty much anything but a normal situation portrayed on there.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My wife & I discussed that very point a bit but the ones that came to mind were either the private school in Zoey 101 or the less-than-attractive public school settings for show's like Ned or iCarly (which really does little with the school itself).

I suppose in the early teen's something like DeGrassi might be a representative sample of the current image and there might be a couple of CW/MyNetwork/WB shows that have some representation, I'm not really sure.

But the most prominent high school I can recall featured in the past 20 years or so would probably be the one from 90210 and that's probably pretty much anything but a normal situation portrayed on there.

LOL at DeGrassi being described as all-American.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My wife & I discussed that very point a bit but the ones that came to mind were either the private school in Zoey 101 or the less-than-attractive public school settings for show's like Ned or iCarly (which really does little with the school itself).

I suppose in the early teen's something like DeGrassi might be a representative sample of the current image and there might be a couple of CW/MyNetwork/WB shows that have some representation, I'm not really sure.

But the most prominent high school I can recall featured in the past 20 years or so would probably be the one from 90210 and that's probably pretty much anything but a normal situation portrayed on there.

The Wonder Years?

My So Called Life?

Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights, and probably a slew of others.

[Karlifornia]

Freaks and Geeks!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights, and probably a slew of others.

Creek & Hill were the two I couldn't come up with the name I was referring to as the WB/UPN stuff, Lights is one that I should have thought of & didn't. Might be at least arguably the most realistic representation in the past couple of years.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My wife & I discussed that very point a bit but the ones that came to mind were either the private school in Zoey 101 or the less-than-attractive public school settings for show's like Ned or iCarly (which really does little with the school itself).

I suppose in the early teen's something like DeGrassi might be a representative sample of the current image and there might be a couple of CW/MyNetwork/WB shows that have some representation, I'm not really sure.

But the most prominent high school I can recall featured in the past 20 years or so would probably be the one from 90210 and that's probably pretty much anything but a normal situation portrayed on there.

The ones that came to my mind were, Grease, American Pie, and Faris Bueler. Even then, it's still a far cry from what it's actually like, though I'd give Bueler the closest to my school experiences.

[INDalltheway]

In all honesty it would be hard to experience the true all-american high school experience in 4-6 weeks. Unless your daughter is incredibly social and could make friends really fast. As dumb as it might seem you might want to look into a school with a good football team because that is a huge part of the experience in my opinion. I imagine the social events are what your daughter sees and heres about?

[21C]

I couldn't get the complete picture from her but I get the feeling that she is basing this off TV. She has watched any number of shows that make American schools seem intriguing. She did mention something about cheerleading but took it back when her sister gave her grief about it. That sort of made sense since it was about the only thing I could think of that we don't have here.

One of the things I suggested to her was to do a bit of trip planning herself. I was going to give her the list of baseball cities and then she had to look them up and see which ones sounded good to her. I still plan on doing this but all of this talk started early this week and she is in the middle of exams right now.

[21C]

Originally Posted by cartman

If you are interested in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, I can put you in touch with the Catholic high school I attended.

Thanks for that. PM me or post their contact info here.

[cartman]

sent