AIFS Abroad Reviews

From the first steps of the application process to the end of my flight on my way home, the AIFS program in London, England has been nothing but perfection. Their comprehensiveness cannot be beat and their staff, both in the United States and in England, were responsive, friendly, and made London feel like home almost immediately. Additionally, AIFS offered many extras such as day trips to Bath, Cambridge, Paris, and much more. The living conditions were small, but clean and located in Kensington, a neighborhood in the most central part of London less than a 2 minute walk from the famous Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this program and would recommend it to anyone that is even remotely interested in studying abroad.

Cities become your home when you get to share the city to your family and friends. One of the best 'aha' moments I had while abroad was when my mom got to visit me about half way through the semester. We were walking around the city and I was sharing everything that I knew about it, simply going on and on about how marvelous it was and why. I would talk about the Duomo and the small piazza by my apartment. My mom was impressed that I not only knew all of this information, but I knew every which way to turn while we were walking. She finally said that "Wow. This truly has become your new home." And it was simple moments like these that I truly miss the most about my time in Florence, Italy.

I had always known going in to college that I wanted to study abroad for a semester sometime during my four years. I chose Italy and immediately also chose Florence because I appreciated that it was a vibrant booming city but also a small city, in hopes that it would feel homey. I wanted to be in a place where another language was spoken. It turned out that many of the cafes I would go into often, the workers would want to help you learn Italian and would help you as you mumbled the little Italian you knew to order a cappuccino.

My next step was choosing which program I wanted to study abroad with. I was initially drawn towards AIFS (American Institute of Foreign Study) because, 1. It was an affiliate program for my school (University of Alabama), 2. It had a great flight package that would allow me to spend 3 days in London prior to arriving in Italy 3. It had a meal plan package that had great reviews and 4. It appeared to include a lot for the cost that was similar to other programs.

I ultimately chose AIFS and all I can say is AIFS went above and beyond everything I expected. It started off with the great flight package which included a 3 day all-inclusive trip to London and then a 5 day orientation in Rome. I really liked having an orientation in another city because in the morning, we would have orientation, and then in the afternoon, we got to explore the city, go the Vatican, etc.

The meal plan WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! There is no better way to experience the culture of Italy than being able to eat at about 25 different restaurants throughout the city each night. Each restaurant ranged from a meal "gift card" or a set menu. And these restaurants had incredible food. It may have helped me gain a few pounds, but I also got to explore some of Italy's best food for no price. I know so many other students studying abroad that ended up cooking pasta and sauce for dinner every night to save money, whereas my friends and I got to go out to eat each night of the week.

AIFS also had an incredible and friendly staff to help you out if you need them, and planned many social events including volunteering the local schools, colleges, etc.; social nights with local Italians to practice your Italian and meet other students; free trips to the Italian country side as well as a 3 day trip to Venice; and even got to stay right on the river in an Italian style apartment. I’m telling you, AIFS did an incredible job of making sure we had every opportunity to fully engage in the Italian culture and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. With that, I urge anyone reading this to go for it and GO STUDY ABROAD.

I could not be happier with my experience in Dublin Ireland with the Global Experiences Program. Upon arriving I was greeted by my program coordinators who made sure my peers and I were settled in. After exploring the city of Dublin and the country-side for a few days to get comfortable in new surroundings, it was time to start work. I had somewhat of a rocky start, working for a production company in center city. The work environment was foreign to me and I had some trouble adjusting, but my program coordinators helped me through the challenges day-by-day and reassured me that a change in position would be doable if need be. After a few weeks, I began taking charge, and by the end of my internship I was designing, filming, and editing content for a web series. This experience really taught me to trust my intuition. My confidence grew immensely and I've learned not to give up too soon. You never know what you're capable of until you try. Thank you again Global Experiences, you have changed my life forever.

Amazing!!! One of the best experiences and trip. The time that I was at work, I got to know some people plus got new experience in my field. This type of opportunity only come once in your life, and now that I got this chance I got to see what I really want to do and work in the future. This is the time to do anything you want and to get to know what you want to do in your field. Try something new and get something out of it. I had one of the best time, now is your turn.

This was one of the most amazing experiences I've had up to this point in my life. I have never been in Europe before and Global Experience gave me the greatest experience I could've asked for. Inma Lopez was an amazing advisor and planned so many different activities to get us out and about to see the extraordinary features that Barcelona has to offer. We had an activity almost every week that involved seeing historic sites, art, and also travel to a city outside of Barcelona! I highly recommend Global Experience as they gave me an unforgettable trip which I will cherish the memories of forever!

Overall, my experience with Global Experiences was great. From the beginning, the advisors and program coordinators were there every step of the way and very interactive. While in Dublin, the site coordinators were great with organizing group activities and were able to help with any issues that arised. Dublin is a great city for an internship. Griffith College is centrally located, allowing for easy access to city centre and Temple Bar, with most internships being within walking distance.

I just recently finished my Fall internship in Australia through Global Experiences (GE), and overall I had a positive experience. I’m not sure if everyone that’s been through a GE program can consider their experience as life-changing, but I’m thankful that my personal experience was in fact life-changing, especially at a key point in my life. For me, I believe my experience was made life-changing because of factors ranging from the pre-departure professional development process and from the company that I interned for, both being provided by GE. I also felt like I needed a break from school. Let’s dive in.

The first thing I’d like to mention is the wonderful staff that GE has; I mostly interacted with Carlie Kidd, Brian Brinkman, Chrissie Friedrichsen, and Kiri Murphy, and I could tell that they helped me not just because it’s their job, but because they wanted to help me gain an amazing experience. They were all well-mannered to say the least, but they were also enthusiastic, responsive, and flexible. I initially signed up for the Shanghai Summer Program 2016, but I ended up wanting to change to the Fall Program, and then I wanted to switch from Shanghai to a different location (ending up in Sydney, AU). I was fortunate that they allowed me to switch so seamlessly.

Next, the pre-departure was pretty unique. While the pre-departure professional development process was filled with stuff that you could technically access and do on your own, it’s one of those things where there’s a slim chance that you would actually choose to do that stuff on your own (let alone, even hear about them) and you’re thankful that you did through GE once you understand and experience how it applies to your professional development. You have the opportunity to bring the valuable things that you learn from this pre-departure professional development process beyond your experience with GE, and you’ll most likely end up taking that opportunity. For your GE internship’s purpose, though, the pre-departure professional development process will make you very well-prepared.

One of my less positive experiences with my experience with GE was in terms of housing, and most of it was influenced by me. Because of my multiple switches mentioned at the end of the second paragraph of this review, I was late in entering the Sydney Fall 2016 program. The housing that was already chosen would only fit 4 guys, and the program had 5 guys including me, and being late to the program, I was chosen and accepted to be housed elsewhere from the people in my program. I ended up living in a single room at a college relatively nearby. Personally, I’m thankful that GE was still able to accommodate housing for me despite entering the program late. The single room allowed me to focus better, and it was definitely comfortable. The problem was that arguably a big part of the program is living with the other people in your program, and I was not able to do that. As someone who was initially hoping to be a more social person by building a relationship with peers inside my program, I was at a loss. The distance between my housing and their housing was far enough that, to me, it wasn’t worth taking the extra time to visit them and try and develop relationships with them. Instead, given my situation, I was comfortable just being by myself in a single room and directing my focus on doing exceptional work for my company. In many ways, but not completely, I was almost doing an individual program and not immersed in a group program. As a reminder to whomever is reading this, though, I did enter the program late, so I actually admired GE’s ability to think of an alternate housing solution for me in a short amount of time, and the housing itself was nice but I missed a lot of the valuable social element of my GE program experience.

So despite having a slight loss in terms of housing, I was able to make the most of my actual internship. I requested a General Business internship from GE, and I eventually interned as a Marketing and Research Intern. Not exactly what I requested and initially wanted. But instead, what I got was something better. One thing that I learned through this internship is that a title is just a title. Sure, Marketing and Research might sound a lot different than Accounting, Finance, Management, etc., but what’s more important than your designated title is what you actually do, and I did exactly what I was truly interested in while working for, and I almost can’t exaggerate this, an amazing group of people. I was able to prove my value in a business setting while working in an above-average work environment, and I really can’t be more thankful for the people I’ve met and worked with and some of the projects I’ve worked on. I’m glad that GE had this connection with the company I interned for, and decided to match me with this company. It was through this company that I took my first steps in a business setting, was able to prove to myself that I can work harder than I originally thought, and reconnected with what I actually want to do in my life.

In terms of the social events that were planned for our GE program, unfortunately I didn’t capitalize on going to every one of them. One of the events that I went to was pretty average, while the other few were good experiences. From my perspective as someone who was housed in a different location than my program members, these social events were the reason why I felt like I wasn’t completely in an individual program, and allowed me to connect to my program members to some extent.

My Tip/Suggestion:
The price of the experience was more on the expensive side, but I really can’t “complain” since I’m sure it takes a lot to give a lot. As someone who took a careful approach to my on-the-ground expenses during my program, I was a bit disheartened by the lack of travelling opportunities that I gave myself. I believe that, to get the most out of GE’s “experience abroad” side of the program, you need to be comfortable with not being frugal with your money while living in your destination or else you’ll miss out on a lot of great opportunities.

Summary of my GE experience:
The GE staff receives recognition from me for their wonderful personalities. The pre-departure coaching was exceptional and I highly recommend this process. My experience on the ground was positive overall; while my housing made it hard to get to know my program members, I was able to get to know most of them to some extent through the planned social events. My internship itself was life-changing through the people I met, the projects I completed, and joy I had going to work for my company every day.

In short, while I can’t comment on how the complete social experience is through GE, I can definitely say that my internship experience was life-changing.

Thank you, Global Experiences, and I hope future participants of your programs can enjoy their internship experience as much as or more than I experienced mine!

I took the plunge and decided to intern abroad in London, a place I'd always wanted go to! I decided almost a year in advance because I wanted to be sure on the program administration and all of the small details involved. I would say overall that I'm quite happy with everyone involved in the Global Experiences process! It was all exciting, and I appreciated the coaching calls and resume assistance.

Our living accommodations were also excellent; this was the first time I have ever lived on my own and it was extremely fun getting to know the other interns in such a close location to everything. Our location coordinator was extremely friendly, nice and always available to chat.

I got placed at a cool fashion forecasting agency where I took on a marketing role involved in a lot of brand and client research. I also got to participate in the creative writing for trend descriptions which was fun! Attending a press event and photographing designer clothes was also a highlight. I had lovely team members who I will greatly miss.

Stonehenge was a blast, along with Windsor Castle, seeing Wicked and other awesome adventures. Winter Wonderland is also gorgeous near Christmas! I'm glad I chose Global Experiences to help me along; I definitely think London is amazing but also an easy place to feel isolated as there are so many people! Starting out with a small community of friends and mentors really made London feel like a place I could call home.

Prague is one of the safest cities in Europe. It has so many things to do from museums, cafes on every corner, underground bars, good eats, and lots of places to visit (within the city). The public transportation is amazing and super easy. AIFS does an amazing job of helping you adjust to your new surroundings, getting you out and exploring, and being there for you any time you need them. The Staff are some of the nicest, fun, caring, and supportive people I have ever met. You will not be disappointed in AIFS and Prague!

It is impossible to not fall in love with Barcelona. There is something for everyone here. From the beach, nightlife, and markets, there is something for everyone to do. And because Barcelona has a pretty big airport, travelling throughout Europe is extremely easy. The best part of my entire trip was getting the oppotunity to travel. I was able to see the worlds tallest building in Dubai, Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, and the Northern lights in Iceland. I would have never gotten these chances so close together if I hadnt studied abroad!