Home stay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.

    What to Expect

    The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.

    Accommodation Zones

    Home stays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential(居住的). Zones3 and 4often offer larger accommodation in a less crowned area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.

    Meal Plans Available

    Continental Breakfast

    Breakfast and Dinner

    Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner

    It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal（谷物类食品），bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desert, fruit and coffee.

    Friends

    If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.

    Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes

    Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much.

Azores Destination Guide

    The Azores is a region of Portugal that's made up of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Compared to many island destinations, the Azores isn't touristy, noisy, or polluted. Instead, travelers can expect to discover untouched nature, fantastic views, and charming villages with rich cultural traditions. Here are the key details you should know to begin planning your trip to the Azores.

    Must-See Attractions

    Nature lovers will be thrilled to discover all of the outdoor trips available to them in the Azores, This is a main spot for hiking, diving, fishing, and whale watching. Some of the top outdoor sights to see include the calderas of Lagoa das Sete Cidades and Lagoa das Fumas and Pico Island, where you can climb the tallest mountain in Portugal. Sao Miguel is the biggest and most populated island, and there are lots of historic homes, restaurants, hotels, and shops here.

    If You Have Time

    Try to visit the Pori of Angra in Terceira, which is a World Heritage Site and close to the hundreds of traditional bullfights that are held every summer. Head to the most westerly island of Flores to see the beautiful coast lined with wildflowers and sheep.

    Free Things to Do

    Visit the beach to take a dip in the comfortable 70-degree water

    Take the five-hour trek lo the peak of volcanic Mount Pico

    Go bird-watching to see some of the Azores 300+ species of birds

    Take a walk around the 15th century town of Heroismo to learn about local history

    Transportation

    The best way to get around the Azores is by car, and there are some really scenic drives to experience here. Buses operate around the islands, but service can be infrequent and unavailable on Sundays and holidays. Cycling should only be attempted if you are in great shape because the terrain is rugged and steep. It's especially enjoyable to take boat to get from island to island, since most towns have ports and are along the shoreline.

    Why Black Friday Shoppers Still Crowd Stores

    To many of us, the ideas of rushing out to a superstore the day after Thanksgiving is appealing. Why would anyone race to crowded stores when they could stay in with family, or watch college football? We can't say we know the answer for sure. But we do feel amazed at those who pour into stores looking for Black Friday bargains. Seemingly, nothing can stop them. Not the weather. Not the crowds. And not the fact that hurrying to a store in the age of instant e-commerce seems so…last century.

    To be sure, holiday shopping habits do appear to be shifting. The National Retail (零售) Federation has stopped breaking up its holiday sales numbers by whether they come from e-tail purchases or from physical stores. It's a pretty good sign that retailers don't want to bring further attention to the declining fortunes of brick-and-mortar stores.

    But there is no denying that people still love going to stores. Actual shopping in actual places remains an important part of the holiday ceremony for millions of Americans. To many, it's the difference between playing a sport and playing a video game. As commercial as stores may be, they are still places where actual human beings interact. In a store, the “courageous” shopper performs the approving act of finding a present. That item might be heavily promoted by the store, but it doesn't drop into one's cart. It is picked up and examined before a decision is made. Maybe it gets put back on the shelf when the shopper changes his or her mind. Maybe there is a conversation with a sales clerk. The process is not that different than it would have been decades ago.

    Online, the shopper has barely logged in before being faced with disturbing algorithmic (大数据的) suggestions based on earlier purchases. This hardly qualifies as shopping. This hardly qualifies as thinking.

    Perhaps we are reading too much into the Black Friday phenomenon. But we suspect one reason Black Friday remains is that it involves an act of resistance against the Internet age. That would hardly be unreasonable. There aren't many studies showing that time spent in stores is bad for one's health, while there are quite a few drawing a link between time spent online and depression. Perhaps the people crowding into stores aren't the crazy ones after all.

    The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias (偏见) in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their own capabilities. This phenomenon is something you have likely experienced in real life, perhaps at a holiday family gathering. Throughout the course of the meal, a member of your extended family begins spouting off on a topic, boldly announcing that he is correct and that everyone else's opinion is stupid, uninformed, and just plain wrong. It may be plainly evident to everyone that this person has no idea what he is talking about, but he talks continuously, blithely oblivious (忘乎所以) to his own ignorance.

    The effect is named after researchers David Dunning and Justin Kruger, two social psychologists. They found incompetent people are not only poor performers, they are also unable to accurately assess and recognize the quality of their own work. These low performers were also unable to recognize the skill and competence levels of other people, which is part of the reason why they consistently view themselves as better, more capable, and more knowledgeable than others.

    This is the reason why students who earn failing scores on exams sometimes feel that they deserved a much higher score. They overestimate their own knowledge and ability and are incapable of seeing the poorness of their performance.

    “In many cases, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, encouraged by something that feels to them like knowledge.” Dunning and his colleagues have also performed experiments where they ask respondents if they are familiar with terms related to subjects including politics, biology, physics, and geography. Along with genuine concepts, they added completely made-up terms. In one such study, approximately 90 percent of respondents claimed that they had at least some knowledge of the made-up terms.

    So what can you do to gain a more realistic assessment of your own abilities? Instead of assuming you know all there is to know about a subject, keep digging deeper. Once you gain greater knowledge of a topic, the more likely you are to recognize how much there is still to learn. Another effective strategy involves asking others for constructive criticism. While it can sometimes be difficult to hear, such feedback can provide valuable insights into how others perceive your abilities. Even as you learn more and get feedback, it can be easy to only pay attention to things that confirm what you think you already know. In order to minimize this confirmation bias, keep challenging your beliefs and expectations and seek out information that challenges your ideas.

    The extreme hot weather often makes people restless with sweats in summer. Even though people are annoyed by it, experts suggest that summer is the best season to give out your body's poisonous matters and refresh your energy.

    One popular choice is hot-stone massage(按摩). Therapists(理疗师)use smooth and heated stones, usually river rocks, to massage certain parts of the body, or set them on key points of the body. The warmth of the hot stones will promote blood circulation and also help muscles relax, while sweating is also believed to be good for letting out the body's poisonous factors.

    Another popular choice is hot-stone baths. The hot-stone bath will help the body give out poisons and humidity(湿气) that build up during the last winter. Summer is the best season to form a good body. Rather than use water or steam to heat and wash the body, people simply wear a coat or something comfortable, and then lie on heated stone tablets made of hot stones, which are warmed to around 45^oC. The body will gradually warm up and blood circulation will also be improved. More sweat will come out quickly. The sweat is smooth and fresh, not smelly like that released after sports activities. Such baths bring a number of health benefits, such as anti-aging, improved blood circulation and stress relief. The slimming effect of dieting can even be promoted.

    It dates back to ancient times to use hot stones for treatment, but the modern hot-stone massage generally owes to Mary Nelson, a native of Tucson, Arizona, America, whose trademark is "La Stone Therapy".

    The therapy is earning a good fame and popularity with many people, especially those who are often seated in cool rooms with air-conditioners. The hot-stone therapy can help cure many illnesses, back pain included.

    You may probably meet most of the powerful graduation speakers, here who are well-known people in their fields. I think the schools couldn't have picked better speakers than them, because they set good examples, deeply inspiring us in our daily life.

    1）Steve Jobs, Stanford University:

   "Remembering you're going to die, and the best way I know is to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Your tine is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. …"

    2）Oprah Winfrey, Stanford University：

   "I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school. And the secret I've learned to get ahead is being open to the lessons from the grandest universe of all. Don't react against a bad situation. And the solution will arise from the challenge. So don't give up easily, acting with responsibility. …"

    3）Bono, University of Pennsylvania：

   "For four years you've been buying, trading, and selling everything you've got in his market-place of ideas. Your pockets are full, even if your parent's are empty, and now you've got to figure out what to spend it on…The world is more flexible than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape…"

    4）Michael Del, University of Texas at Austin;

   "Now it's time for you to move on to what's next and obtain your desire. But you much must not let anything prevent you from taking those first steps. Don't spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, or sometimes you'll miss the right opportunity. Recognize that there will be failures obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others."