Solutions Reading

1    Read the text and complete gaps 1–5 with missing sentences.

A summer away from home

Many companies organise summer programmes abroad for young people aged fifteen to twenty. ¹_____ Travelling without your parents is a great way to become more independent, make new friends, and see a different country. But what is it really like to go on one of these trips? We spoke to three young travellers about their experiences.

Josh Tanner went to Lagos, Nigeria

I’m really good at football, so when I heard about a football volunteer programme in Africa, I was really excited. ²_____ But after I had showed them some information on the internet, they decided that it was safe for me to go.

I was feeling tired when I arrived in Lagos, and I couldn’t believe how hot it was. ³_____ I stayed with the Ngembo family in an apartment in the centre of Lagos. It was very small, and I had to share a room with three boys. But everyone was really nice to me, so I soon got used to having no privacy. I worked really hard, but I enjoyed my job, too. For most of the time, I was helping a Nigerian sports coach to teach football to ten-year-old boys and girls. I had a great time there, and I really got used to living in a big, noisy African city. By the time I left, I had really started to fit in!

Rebecca Jones went to Arles, France

Last year, I spent two weeks at a summer art school for young people in Arles. Arles is a beautiful little town in Provence, in the south of France. We were staying in a campsite and sharing tents, and most of the other students were French. I was nervous at first about speaking French to them. But everyone was nice to me, and they didn’t criticise my mistakes. I really gained a lot of confidence after I’d been there for a week. The course was good too. We had drawing and painting lessons every morning. Then, every afternoon, the teachers took us out into the countryside to practise our skills. The famous painter Vincent Van Gogh used to live in Arles. ⁴_____ It’s a really beautiful place. I think I painted some good pictures while I was staying there. When Van Gogh was painting in Arles, people didn’t used to like his work. Now his paintings sell for millions of pounds. Who knows? Maybe the same thing will happen to my pictures one day.

Matt Hazelwood went to Bryce Canyon, USA

Last summer, I got a job at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, USA. It’s a beautiful place, but it was very difficult to get there! After I’d flown ten hours from London to Las Vegas, I had to get a bus to Cedar Springs, Utah. And after someone had met us there, it was another three-hour drive to the park. ⁵_____ Lots of young people like me were working in the park last summer. We were helping people from the US National Park Service to repair and build things like picnic tables and information signs. We also helped to repair the walking paths and make them safe. That’s important because a lot of middle-aged and elderly people visit the US national parks. I had to work really hard all summer, and get up very early in the morning. But I soon got used to that, and it was great to work outside in such a beautiful place. Bryce Canyon is famous for its red rocks and cliffs − and when the sun comes up in the early morning, they look amazing!