What is your favorite travel memory?
Picking one favorite memory is impossible, but there's something I'll never forget was when I was studying abroad for a semester in Seville, Spain. I woke up one morning and realized that I'd dreamt in Spanish that night. If you've ever tried to master a second language, you understand that this is a pretty big feat (if you haven't, I probably sound a little crazy). As a Spanish major in college, I'd been working so hard to perfect my Spanish and it wasn't always easy. To think that my brain had switched into Spanish while I was sleeping as if it was perfectly normal was amazing for me.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
The major change I've experienced since working with SOL actually happened very recently. I was able to spend over two weeks in Costa Rica with our university and high school summer programs and it was life-changing. Being able to experience a SOL program firsthand gave me a whole new appreciation for everything that SOL stands for. I got to see the phenomenal work that our on-site directors do and how well they take care of our students. I can now confidently tell parents and students that they could not be in better hands than they are with SOL.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
The question I've gotten from many return students that I really love is when they ask how they can get a job like mine. It shows that just as it did for me, their study abroad experience really impacted them and that means that as an organization, we're doing something right.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?:
If I could go on any of SOL's programs, I would love to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I've been so fortunate to have gotten to study and live in Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, but South America is uncharted territory for me. I'm always working to improve my Spanish and there's a huge part of the Spanish-speaking world that I haven't gotten to explore yet, so Argentina would be a wonderful place to start.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
Something that makes SOL so unique is the individual attention we give to each student. Our company philosophy is that we treat each student how we wanted to be treated when we were studying abroad and I really see that playing out in our office each and every day. For the majority of students, studying abroad is a huge step, and to work for an organization that understands that and is willing to help students through the process in any way that we can makes me so proud to work here.