Program
Program
Student Life
Each student lives as a family member with a Sinhala Buddhist 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.
-- 2006 ISLE Student
Dangolla is contiguous to the sprawling University of Peradeniya campus (where many of ISLE's classes are conducted) 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). Most of ISLE's courses are taught in the Faculty of Arts complex, which is located in the center of campus.
Students relaxing after their field work
The justly famous Royal Botanical Garden in Peradeniya is also within walking distance to the ISLE Study Center. It is a peaceful and relaxing space amidst the jostle and hectic context of public life in Sri Lanka.
Peradeniya Gardens
Depending on traffic patterns at different times of the day, the city of Kandy is a 10-30 minute bus ride or 3-wheeler taxi away from Dangolla. Kandy is the cultural, educational, business and shopping center of upcountry Sri Lanka. E-mail is available either in Kandy or in a shopping area nearby to Dangolla which can be reached on foot in 20-30 minutes or by bus or 3-wheeler taxi in five minutes or less. Daily needs can be purchased at road side "kades" throughout Dangolla, or in a nearby shopping complex.
Kandy street