Each student lives as a family member with a middle class host family in Kandy. ISLE students describe the relationship with their families as one of the most important learning experiences of the program. It lays the foundation for an in-depth understanding of Sri Lankan culture. In addition to providing meals, families encourage language learning and include the students in their religious and social activities. They make it possible for students to become actively involved in many aspects of Sri Lankan daily life. Frequent visits by relatives and friends add further diversity to students' family-life experiences.
Students with their host families
Almost all of the host families are situated either in the hills of Dangolla (the quiet residential neighborhood in which the ISLE Program Study Center is located), or 15 to 20 minutes away by "3-wheeler taxis," again, not far from the Center.
"Your host family is the hand through which this country touches your heart."
-- 2006 ISLE Student
Dangolla is contiguous to the sprawling University of Peradeniya campus (where many of ISLE's classes are conducted). Most students live within a 5- to 15-minute wald of the study center and within a 30-45 minute walk to the University of Peradeniya Faculty of Arts library and athletic facilities (including gymnasium, swimming pool, tennis courts, track, cricket, rugby and soccer fields). ISLE's classes are conducted at both the ISLE Study Center and at the Faculty of Arts complex at the University.
Students engage in coursework both in Kandy at the ISLE Center and University of Peradeniya, and on extensive archaeological field trips.
When not busy studying, students have the opportunity to participated in extracurricular field trips both within Kandy and to other parts of Sri Lanka. ISLE students may visit local orphanages, attend theater performances, visit art galleries, museums, tea plantations, temples, an elephant orphanage, a national park, and more. In addition to program-sponsored activities, students may also join their host families for cultural activities.
The justly famous Royal Botanical Garden in Peradeniya is also within walking distance of almost all homestay family residences. It is a peaceful and relaxing space amidst the jostle and hectic context of public life in Sri Lanka.
Depending on traffic patterns at different times of the day, the city of Kandy is a 10-30 minute 3-wheeler taxi ride away from Dangolla. Kandy is the cultural, educational, business and shopping center of upcountry Sri Lanka. E-mail is available at the University, in Kandy or in a nearby shopping area. Daily needs can be purchased at road-side "kades" throughout Dangolla.
