CIEE Reviews

If you love biology and want to have an immersive, hands-on experience, this is the program for you. You will be having lectures in the middle of the rainforest and on boats in the middle of mangrove trees. You will also get to participate in field problems and independent research in one of the most diverse places on Earth. Everything is taken care of for you: living situations, food, transportation... so you can focus on getting the most out of your experience. You will be traveling along the Pacific slope, staying at a private biological station in Monteverde, and passing a few weeks with a local family. The staff is absolutely wonderful and so supportive. Since it is a group based experience you will make great friends with your fellow classmates. This is not a program for people wanting a typical study abroad experience. It is intense and you will be challenged mentally and physically. However, if you are ready to have an amazing adventure and open to whatever comes your way, you will have an awesome time. My advice is to just go with whatever happens and enjoy your time in this amazing country.

Amazing program if you’re looking for a balance of sustainability and development lectures/excursions and cultural/language immersion (mostly through homestays). So welcomed by my homestay family and felt like we had lots of time to get to know Monteverde while still having work and classes almost every day. Not academically “rigorous” but incredibly insightful- exposure to multiple places within Costa Rica and the cloud forest, perspectives on green issues, and the chance to do mini research survey projects.
Strong support and guidance from instructors. Would have liked more immersion activities, but able to be independent and find them on our own. Monteverde and Santa Elena all very walkable. So many hikes!
Will be dreaming of the amazing ficus trees and people here for years to come.

I really enjoyed my time in Toulouse! I learned a lot about the French culture and had an amazing professor for my international marketing class! CIEE provided many activities to help you learn about the culture as well as build relationships with your peers. Some activities I enjoyed more than others but most of the activities such as weekend trip to Ariege and a day trip to Albi were amazing. We also got the opportunity to take a cooking class and attend a cheese and wine tasting. Class schedule was slightly intense but workload was very manageable we were given an hour lunch each day but had class from 10:30-12:30 and 1:30-3:30. The class I took offered excursions to Airbus and a local hospital to help learn about the subjects. They give weekends free to your freedom where I ended up going to Paris and Nice which is awesome for any outside travel you want to go. This 4 week program is structured very well, it’s extremely organized and they give you lots of support and help you find fun activities. I also was here during the World Cup when France made the final so that added to the excitement!

CIEE's Summer Open Campus in Paris made my summer the best one yet! The staff is so helpful and caring; any time you have an issue, they are more than willing to help you. Furthermore, they planned optional "extracurricular" activities that helped the students discover new parts of Paris that might not be known to tourists. The program also plans a day trip and an overnight trip each session to locations 1-3 hours around Paris. These were places that I would've wanted to travel to on my own (i.e. Normandy, Loire Valley, Chateaus, and Giverny), but the program transported us there and paid for meals and lodging. The staff was always willing to help answer any questions about Paris/Europe, such as where I should go for the best escargot or how I could book cheap tickets to travel to another city. The program had two days off which allowed for time to travel to other locations in Europe. The classes were extremely interesting! I learned a lot, but the workload was not at all overwhelming. The other students were amazing. Since we were studying abroad, we all seemed to be adventurous people who were looking to have a fun time exploring Paris. I have made the most amazing friends and memories that I will absolutely never forget. My summer with CIEE was priceless!

I loved this program because it immersed me into the Portuguese culture. I took an Art History course where we were walking around Lisbon, and surrounding areas, learning about different architecture styles along with Lisbon's layers of cultural history. We started in Medieval times and worked our way up to Modern Lisbon. Since I am an Art History major, this course was perfect-but all of the other students came from various backgrounds which created a great diversity. I got to explore so much of Lisbon even in the short one month time span I was there. The staff on site, Luísa, Joana and Sara, were amazing! Whenever I had a concern or needed a recommendation for something to do, they were there to help! The class size was small and perfect for those who like a more one-on-one experience. The excursions to Évora, the Escher Exhibit and surfing class were wonderful. We did everything that my Lisbon guide book recommended to do. I was also able to learn more about Portuguese culture, especially since the locals were very friendly and spoke English! The program allowed us to have plenty of independent free time to explore which was very liberating. The homestay gave me the opportunity to connect with a local family and be more connected to the culture. Overall, this program exceeded any expectations I had.

The Summer Marine Tropical Ecology course that CIEE offers is amazing. The excursions are extremely fun and very informative. They go very well with the lectures and course information. The grading is much different in Australia, so Americans will have to prepare for that and really work with their instructors to understand exactly what they want. However, overall it was a fantastic experience and I have grown significantly as a student, traveler, and person.

Throughout the application process to CIEE's program, every question I had was either followed by a rapid email reply, or a phone call. The longest I ever waited for a response was when my flight was delayed on the way to Tokyo, and I couldn't check my emails on the plane.
One major thing that I had worried about while studying abroad was financials, and CIEE made sure to sponsor multiple excursions, adventures, and activities for its students. These excursions include going to Hiroshima and Miyajima, touring Kamakura, going to Sumo, getting tickets to museums, and much more! Furthermore, I was able to experience multiple cultural day trips, and be reimbursed after. Not only does this help save money for the students, but it allowed us to go on twice the amount of adventures that we normally may have!
Something that future participants should know is that if you're at any time feeling stressed out, or just need someone to talk to, CIEE has an office that is conveniently located on the Sophia campus that you can relax in any time between 10 and 5. Even if you just go to the office for a quick lunchtime snack, you'll be sure to leave in a happier mood then when you came. Talking to the CIEE staff is like talking to a friend. Be it movies or places to go, the office staff will help you out.
From my time in this program, I have gained a large support network, ideas for future jobs, and have met some highly influential people that I can call my friends. Everyone in the program has a unique background, and this really helps to create an ongoing network.
TLDR: If you wish to have fun, learn a lot, meet people, and make amazing memories, apply to CIEE's Tokyo program.

Wow, 5 weeks went by fast. Super fun course, packed with fun excursions, trips, beautiful beaches, and fantastic teachers. Support staff is amazing, you go to secluded beaches to do super fun research, snorkel in one of the most pristine coral reefs in the world, and I even swam with a Tiger Shark! On my last field research day, our class watched the sunset while a couple of dolphins swam by. Overall amazing course - and both Fremantle and Perth (The cities you will have access too) are lively. Good public transport, decent food (Highly recommend food-trucks on campus), and just a fun time.

If you've ever wanted to visit Australia, do it right, and do it with CIEE.

This trip was great craic (an Irish slang term for fun)! Not only did we get to become a part of the beautiful city of Dublin, but we also as a group got to take a secondary trip to Ireland's medieval capital of Kilkenny, which was probably my favorite part! Kilkenny was just a super cool little town, with a beautiful castle and incredible nightlife. While in Dublin, I was studying the Shaping of Modern Ireland, which was a history class outlining Ireland from 1800 up through 1949. Dublin City University was a nice school that was just far enough outside of the city center, and I had a great professor who cared deeply about the topic and made sure that the class was understanding him. This class was great for me, as I finally got to learn the history of my Irish ancestors and about the land that they came from. Outside of the classroom, Dublin was an incredible city to call home for a month. The beautiful churches were probably my favorite thing to explore. That and the pubs of course! I cannot recommend this study abroad experience enough; if you have any desire to learn anything about Ireland, you have to do it!
For me, one of the reasons this trip was so great was that I really was able to get in touch with my Irish roots; I got to visit the same churches my ancestors went to, I learned about their experiences and how they lived back then, and I was able to explore the city that they called home! I feel that it also really helped with my world outlook, because although Ireland is very similar to the United States, it is simultaneously completely different. It was super convenient for me that there was no language barrier to overcome here, but there were still a few cultural differences, which I found to be more fun than annoying.
While here, I would highly recommend trying to take in as much of the local culture as possible, especially the sports! Before coming here, I had no clue what Hurling or Gaelic Football were, but I can say that going to those matches were some of the most fun that I had while on this trip!
As I stated earlier, I cannot recommend this trip enough! Dublin is a fantastic city, and I cannot wait to come back in the future!

This is not the study abroad program for someone looking to hop around central america, or even Costa Rica. This is the study abroad program for the student who wants to find a second home. Monteverde and Santa Elena are two very quiet towns, with small populations. There is one bar and a handful of coffee shops scattered around the area, and lots of hilly sidewalks in between them. Since Monteverde is so far away from other cities, it is difficult to plan trips or excursions to other places from here, but, you really should not want to leave.

CIEE gave me an excellent school to work from, with an incredible staff who was dedicated, caring and excited. They connected me to a wonderful host family, where I got to learn what it was really like to live in Costa Rica. I spent so much time in the small town, learning it, and learning how to get around that I would feel comfortable showing it off to my family or friends back home; the coffee shop with my favorite smoothies, the best place to get pizza, or my favorite lookout spot. I felt incredibly safe here, I was worried that I would have an issue with Machismo culture but thankfully I experienced no such thing. People here are humble, gracious and friendly, and they love to share their town with you. I learned so much about my own culture, and what it is like to live in another country.

Monteverde is beautiful, I felt lucky getting to walk to class every day, in awe of the cloud rain forest that surrounds the city. I came during the rainy season, but thankfully I got to experience a different climate than I would at home. I have so many favorite memories to chose from here, touring the cloud forest with my class, going zip lining, learning Spanish, sitting in Stella's Cafe, watching a monkey climb on top of a building, seeing toucans in the tree by my house at dusk. Wear shoes you know you can walk forever in, bring a rain jacket, and a good attitude.