Work during the week and fun in the weeknds

I really liked living with other volunteers so that you could have great moments with them during those times when you had nothing to do. Having free time after your work experience is great, for example, in the afternoon when we had nothing to do we could go sight seeing near our placement and be back in time for dinner, it would be great fun and it filled out our day splendidly.
Eventhough everyone felt very safe in our volunteer house, the host family insisted in locking us in during the night. We didn't like that much since it meant that sometimes we were forced to stay in when we wanted to go to the corner shop (before the indicated time to be back home at night) or in the morning when you had to leave early and they still hadn't opened the gate. Perhaps they should rethink this strategy or leave a key within the house, so as to have a possibility of opening the gate in case we needed it.