So, Europe. What does it have to offer? France. Spain. Italy. Germany. England. Romania. Poland. To name but a few of the choice cuts of the continent. Whether it be the impassioned political fervour of the French, the darkly elegant style of the Italians, or the striking openness of the Dutch, you have to admit - there´s a wealth of culture over there. And how exquisite it would be to understand the seamless poetry of Dante, the tortured prose of Proust, or the emblematic tales of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra´s Don Quijote, in their original versions.

The best way to learn a language is to get yourself in a country where it is spoken. This way you really drench yourself in the culture, you are constantly absorbing new vocabulary from the road signs, the posters, the conversations you over-hear on the metro – and most importantly of all – you make friends you can talk with.

When I was a child, we did a house exchange with a Belgian family. We stayed in their house for four weeks. All my brothers and sisters were older than me, and whilst I had a fabulous time playing with the new doll´s house that I found, eventually I wanted some company of my own age. It just so happened that there was a little girl living in the house next door. Lea, her name was. She was taller than me, wore brown buckle-up shoes, and spoke no English. And we had the best time together. Even now, I remember going with her to buy chips from the local chip shop (chips dressed with a particular sweet and sour cream that I´ve never been able to find anywhere else in the world), dressing up to perform a play for her parents, and going cycling in the velvety forest with her school friends. While I don´t remember being conscious of speaking French, it was certainly the language we spoke in, and as all children do with languages, I took to it like a duck to water.

And I now see just how wonderful and welcoming that small community was. The neighbours especially, welcoming strangers into their houses, looking after a little foreign girl, helping the slightly eccentric English family make friends and feel welcome in a different city. For the rest of my family, living in that neighbourhood for a month was the perfect way to really practise their French and make exciting new friendships.

If you´re interested in European culture, and are looking for an opportunity to practise or to learn a new language, doing a home exchange is the ideal way to do this. You get delivered right into the marrow of the community – socially, culturally, and most crucial of all - linguistically.

So if you´re a dab hand for languages, or if you just want to practise some French asking for a croissant and a white coffee while you read the paper in a quiet café in Bordeaux, a home exchange ensures that you´ll make new friends and not only see, but really live the new culture.