<p>One way to save money over spring break and still enjoy yourself is to be a tourist in your college city. Go see the art museums, the zoo, the science museum… You’re in DC, I’d be willing to bet you haven’t been up the Washington monument. Go to the DAR museum and the Corcoran. See if you can find a group going to the White House.</p>
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This is something you can easily change between now and spring. I went to Italy this summer and I used the Pimsleur tapes to get ready for my trip. While by no means fluent I could ask the price of a room, say I wanted to buy something, order a meal, ask directions, had command of the polite expressions (hello, thank you, etc), and more. And all this from only the first 30 lessons!</p>
<p>Pimsleur tapes (or CDs) are 30 minute lessons available for dozens of languages, all oral, in which you simply respond to the prompts on the tape. I listened to each tape twice instead of once, but maybe you’ll pick it up faster. The tapes are readily available at libraries, and they probably have them at the language lab at your school.</p>
<p>Its true you can get by without speaking the language. But people appreciate it if you make an effort to speak to them in their language, especially when you’re in their country. And it makes the visit more fun to try to get a flavor of the local environment the way the locals experience it.</p>
<p>Good point, mikemac. And for us online addicts, I am having great success with Rosetta Stone - <a href=“http://www.rosettastone.com%5B/url%5D”>www.rosettastone.com</a> - online. They have numerous languages (I’m doing Spanish) and numerous plans. I’m finding the 3month subscription for about $89 wonderful. Their system provides interactive listening, reading, speaking practice at beginner and intermediate levels. They even have (I haven’t tried this yet) the ability to work on your pronunciation and accent, with some method of matching your voiceprint to that of a native speaker.</p>