The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (59 page)

 
Second City.
Two resident troupes and performances most evenings. Tickets usually run about $12. For a super bargain, catch student and workshop performances. Sketch-a-Sketch, a triple-bill, features new material on Thursday nights at 10:30 and is free. On Monday nights, the e.t.c. theater features Level 5 Conservatory students; tickets are just $5.
Second City, 1608 N. Wells St., 312-664-3959,
www.secondcity.com
.

“It opens your brain up to how many possibilities there are,” Wagner says.

After a day of literally putting yourself out there, you’ll have homework, but no one will be complaining. The staff urges students to catch improv shows at Second City and all over Chicago. Students not only get a free ticket to a Second City performance, but they also receive a card good for free or discounted admission at comedy clubs around the city. Students relish the chance to study professionals using the same techniques they just learned—and then they get a chance to try it out in class the next day

Student Melissa Saunders became such a fan of the classes that she went three times in one year. The mother and educator said she yearned to get back in touch with her theatrical side, and found she couldn’t get enough. “It just felt really free to be around so many creative people, to have an excuse to be silly and ridiculous and laugh and laugh and laugh.”

Months later she could see the difference the class made when she was the announcer at a high school reunion and felt the confidence to speak all night in front of the crowd without notes or a chance for preparation.

Yes, it can be intense and intimidating, but the staff’s goal is to build you up, not down. “The more successes students have in class, and the happier they are when they leave Second City, that’s how we measure our success,” says Matt Hovde, artistic director of the training center.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Second City,
1608 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL 60614, 312-664-3959,
www.secondcity.com
.

sharpen your spanish

OAXACA, MEXICO

A different language is a different vision of life.

—
FEDERICO FELLINI, ITALIAN FILM DIRECTOR (1920–1993)

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A second—or third—language is more than just a communications tool. It’s a way of exploring cultural intricacies and lets you soak up arts, food, politics, and humor in a way that’s nearly impossible when the punch lines don’t translate.

For North Americans who have so many Latin countries to the south, no second tongue is handier than Spanish. The best way to learn any language is to study and live in a place where your mother tongue is rarely spoken, so sign up for an immersion Spanish language course in Oaxaca, Mexico. For as little as a week—or months on end—you can spend a few hours each day studying with a teacher, with the rest of the time spent learning to make a mask, whisking up the perfect enchilada, and practicing your newfound skills daily with your host family or other locals.

The cozy colonial city of Oaxaca is home to the popular Instituto Cultural Oaxaca. On arrival, students are tested and grouped by ability; each morning they spend three hours in class before settling in for an hour of
intercambio
—chat—with a local resident. In the afternoons, many students opt for cultural courses, such as Mexican cinema, weaving, ceramics (the region is famous for its crafts, especially its black clay pottery), salsa dancing, and cooking.

Alternatively, students can choose to spend their afternoons wandering this mountain-rimmed town—a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with cafés spilling onto the main square, domed colonial churches (don’t miss the Santo Domingo church’s Altar of Gold), and graceful stucco buildings in brilliant cobalt or vermilion hues. Galleries and museums dot the center, carrying on the tradition of contemporary artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Morales, and Francisco Toledo. Indigenous locals dressed in bright traditional garb sell weavings and baskets of vanilla beans in the market; at night, a brass band often plays in the
zócalo,
or town square. Festivals are colorful and frequent, and the November 1 Day of the Dead celebration is celebrated with fanfare. Thanks to its setting, Oaxaca enjoys clear, dry, and comfortably cool (around 65°F) weather year-round.

Language-instruction programs plus the daily intercambio start at $120 per week, plus an initial $55 registration fee; adding on the afternoon cultural workshops raises the cost to $160 per week. Private classes and inexpensive excursions to outlying villages are also offered.

Many students stay with a host family arranged by the school, with fees starting at $13 per night including breakfast—an experience that often wins raves, especially among solo travelers. For eight weeks, Wisconsin college student Kathleen Neelson stayed in a private room with a family whose 18-and 20-year-old daughters took her to the local shops to buy bread and included her in activities. With no TV in her room and no Internet access at her host family’s house, Neelson says she got used to entertaining herself with books—another learning experience.

BEYOND OAXACA

Lisa Yanke of North Carolina got hooked on learning Spanish for work and is now on a quest to perfect her skills. In the last few years, she has visited five programs—three in Costa Rica, one in Spain, one in Puerto Rico.

Her tips: (1) Pay attention to whether the school is affiliated with any U.S. colleges—a good marker for reliability. (2) Check out reviews from students who have been to the school at its current location. She once attended a school in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that had moved recently to an area that didn’t feel safe; she left after a day.

At most programs, the longer you stay, the lower the price. All offer homestays and private accommodation at an additional price. Recommended programs include the following:

 
Antigua, Guatemala.
The epicenter of Central America’s Spanish language programs, Antigua is home to 80 Spanish-language schools catering to foreigners, tucked into the glory of a cobbled colonial town. Among the many recommended schools are
Escuela de Español San Jose El Viejo
(www.sanjoseelviejo.com),
Centro Linguistico International Spanish School
(www.spanishcontact.com), and
Academia de Español Guatemala
(www.learnspanishinguatemala.com). Prices vary according to the program but generally start at $85 per week for a half day of classes; lodging extra.

 
Costa Rica. CPI Spanish Immersion School
(www.cpi-edu.com) holds classes in tourist-friendly places—in the cloud forest at Monteverde, on the coast in Guanacaste Province, and the town of Heredia. One-week classes cost $330 per week and include some activities; lodging extra.

 
Guanajuato, Mexico.
Travel writer Tim Leffel brought his wife and two young children to study here at
Escuela Mexicana
(www.escuelamexicana.com) and gave the experience a big thumbs up. Group classes start at $60 per week; lodging extra.

Homestays are not required, however; students can stay wherever they choose. Oaxaca offers a range of lodging in apartments (starting around $450 per month) and local hotels and inns.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Instituto Cultural Oaxaca,
52-951-515-3404,
www.icomexico.com
.

Mexico Office of Tourism,
800-446-3942,
www.visitmexico.com
.

Oaxaca Tourist Office,
Palacio Municipal on Independencia, 52-951-514-6633,
http://oaxaca-travel.com/
.

soak up the suds

PORTLAND, OREGON

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer.

Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.

—
HUMORIST AND AUTHOR DAVE BARRY,
DAVE BARRY TURNS
40
(1990)

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Any foodie knows that wine is a complex alchemy of soil and elements, grapes and the vintner’s careful hand. Wine lovers have long crafted whole vacations built around wine, touring vineyards, and tasting the grape. But beer is just beer, right?

If you live in a bottled-beer city, you might think so. But the craft of beermaking has a long and rich history that equals that of winemaking, and for those more interested in hops than grapes, there are some celebrated beery places to visit—the beer-brewing monasteries of Belgium and the raucous beerhouses of Germany, to name but a couple. In America, the Pacific Northwest reigns supreme for the quantity and quality of its microbreweries, small specialty brewers making limited batches. And no place is more devoted to the craft than Portland, Oregon.

In the past 30 years, craft beers have blossomed here, fed by pristine waters of the Bull Run watershed out of the Cascade Range and the area’s optimum growing conditions for hops, the bitter flower clusters used to counter the sweetness of malted barley. Today, Portland boasts more than 30 craft breweries, making it the largest craft brewing market in the U.S., according to the Oregon Brewers Guild—and one of the country’s best places to appreciate the fresh, complex tastes that can vary widely from one specialty ale to the next.