BTW: a practical tip for parents of study abroad students. Thanks to the wonders of Google searches, you can probably follow along their travels by finding photos of places they visit.
For example, I found this photo of the beach on the southern tip of India where my daughter and five friends went for a weekend getaway:
http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s.../cat//size/big
They rented two bamboo huts at the top of the cliffs, $1 per person per night:
http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s.../cat//size/big