I managed to get 8 weeks holiday last year and spent them in Beijing learning Mandarin after years of trying to learn this language online. I think you are doing the right thing - intensive study in a Chinese language envrionment is the only thing that will give you real progress - unless you are some language wizzard who can learn how to speak from just studying grammar rules. I spent almost half a year planning my trip, there are a lot of different options. After talking to just about every single language school in China I chose LTL in Beijing (http://www.livethelanguage.cn/learn-chinese-beijing/), because a) their website looks professional and b) they were very helpful with answering questions and support with the planning (they also have staff who can speak proper English, which helped a lot). If you are looking for a recommendation, I can recommend them. My teachers were very good (not just some Chinese person who goes through a book with you, but real full-time, trained teachers), the school well organized (it is run by a German...) and they are very helpful and supportive once you are there. The school is not that big and has a very personal feeling to it, which made for a nice and relaxed studying environment. Even though I am in my 50s, I chose the homestay option, which meant that my "homestay parents" were not that much older than myself. It worked out very well though, the food was great, the apartment nice and I ended up speaking pretty much nothing but Mandarin all day at home. I am still not fluent (not did I expect to become fluent in 2 months, though it remains my final goal), but I got a lot closer to it during those eight weeks than I thought I would.