Program Reviews

An amazing social experience over anything! Every connection I made was a branch to new things to do in the city ! I’ve made amazing friends from all over the world, not just my country of stay, and it has given me new insights on culture, life, and so many other aspects! The activities provided by the program’s connections were also insanely fun! The program also taught me so much about my own self-sufficiency, and how truly competent I am. I now know that if I am able to survive and fend for myself in a foreign environment, I definitely can do it back in my own home country and city. I’ve frequently described this experience and one of if not the best experience of my life so far, and it definitely has molded me into a new, better, more responsible and ambitious person.

I spent 2 months in Madrid working in a LGBT public health office. My experience living in this beautiful city was phenomenal being that I was immersed in Spanish culture. The nightlife is amazing, as you'd imagine, and I made great friends both inside and outside the program. We loved visiting other Spanish cities as well as Portugal whenever we got the chance. I really enjoyed my time at the Spanish school as everyone was extremely supportive and I learned a lot in a short period of time. All my coworkers were also lovely and helped me improve my Spanish skills throughout my time there. I do feel that it is important to mention though that you should take the Spanish language skill required by adelante seriously. Some internships do require a higher level of speaking and if you are dishonest with adelante about your ability there isn't much they can do to help if your boss becomes dissatisfied. Additionally, I will say that my expectations were not fully met on the adelante side. My original desire was to work in a hospital or clinic and although the backup plan of public health was established over the phone and I agreed to it, I got the sense that the Plan B discussed became the default for myself and the other interns I spoke to. I believe I only met 2 interns that were fully satisfied with their work placement and received their Plan A. However, in this situation I believe you get what you pay for being that adelante is securing an internship for you even if its not ideal. To me and many of the others this didn't end up being a big issue as we grew to like our placements, but if youre passionate about working in one specific area to really build your resume, adelante may not be the right fit.
Conclusion: Adelante provided me with the opportunity to live and work in Madrid which was most definitely one of the best experiences of my life. I feel as if the internship placement could have been better, but being the most affordable program I found, I'm far from dissatisfied.

I spent two months in Oaxaca de Juarez with the Adelante volunteering program for working with kids. My time there was amazing, being able to experience local life and history of the state. The housing location was in a great spot, and my landlord was unbelievably kind. My time at the language school was also great as I met and made wonderful friends from around the world and also received a one-on-one tutor which helped me immensely. I also met great people at my internship. The program truly opens you up to many differing walks of life and exposes you to so many new things - not just originating from Oaxaca. The trip being my first solo travel forced me to become independent and actually rely on myself instead of using others as a travel-buddy crutch. When Adelante says that the program is for independent travelers, they're not kidding. This is where I point out the major lack of communication. I won't go into detail, but the program really is like moving to a foreign place by yourself and figuring everything out by yourself. There were a few rough patches but I didn't let them bother me during my time there. You'll run into problems, like no water or power, but you adapt and overcome. I really enjoyed my experience both the good and the bad, but if lack in communication and cultural confusion bothers you I wouldn't recommend this type of program.

From the classroom, to the stable, to nights out at the pubs, this program is the ultimate description of work hard play hard; a perfect blend of classwork with weekday and weekend excursions. Oatridge College is a small, tight knit community where you’ll definitely feel at home. The small class size allows for one on one time with instructors and class discussion. The courseload is easily manageable outside of class. The location of campus is perfect, in a quiet area, but a short train ridge from Edinburgh and other small towns to explore. Overall, I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking for the perfect study abroad experience while building your resume — between classroom lectures and practical session, be ready to get hands on and comfortable around the most beautiful horses!

Love all the staff members, everyone is very willing to help and passionate about what they do. Sometimes the classes hours are too long, but I like we have rest time in between. All the horses are lovely and had a lot of fun riding.
We were very lucky to make it to the gold cup of the Perth Racetrack, we say the winner race of the 2019. We also went to Luccinda Russel's thoroughbred horses training facility in Kinross, and understand and had a deeper look into their daily routine and how the horses are train and been take care of. We had free days to explore Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Some went to London. The amount of opportunities that you have in this program is amazing. We've met a bunch of local people they are just amazing, people take care of each other.
I am also amazed how much our group have bonded over a month. I enjoyed every moment here !!

This program has been one of the best experiences of my life. The staff, students, and overall population are extremely kind, helpful, and knowledgeable about the topics they are teaching and learning. My only suggestion is to rework the Equine Fitness portion of the classes to have more distinct deadlines and clarity in what is expected for each assignment. Overall I truly enjoyed the content of the classes and gained a lot of knowledge regarding the differences between practices in the United States versus the practices in Scotland and the United Kingdom. I also thoroughly enjoyed the side excursions taken as a class and the ability to have free time so we could travel and develop as individuals. I would highly recommend this program to anyone that is ready to grow as a part of a new family and as an individual.

You learn so much in such a short amount of time, it's amazing to see how far everyone advances in their riding skills. It really helps that the groups are kept small so the learning atmosphere is still personal between you, the rider, and the trainer, as well as being a comfortable group environment. It seems a bit unnerving at first to have to ride in front of other people, but everyone else is in the same boat as you so there isn't any room for judgement or skepticism. The teachers, in the classroom and in the arena, are always there to answer questions and provide any advice they can give you (sometimes whether you like it or not :) ). Even though our entire group came from completely opposite sides of the country, we were still able to relate and bond over this one thing we shared in common. This was such a great experience for not only learning more about Equine Sciences but it was also an unbeatable opportunity to make connections with people within your age group and field of study.

I really enjoyed this experience abroad. The classes were not too demanding and there was a ton of free time for us to explore and do as we pleased. I wish I would've been more aware of the amount of free time we were going to be given because I would have booked more things to do in the city. Riding was of course my favourite part of the program. All the staff and faculty made me feel very welcome and immediately at home. There were plenty of super market trips and the staff was super accommodating to any requests we had. I really enjoyed how hands on the classes were and how willing our instructors were to break anything down for us that we were struggling with. Overall, really great experience. Definitely worth pursuing for those looking to get some travelling under their belt.

This program was a great experience overall. The staff was very welcoming and super helpful throughout the program. The teachers and riding instructors were very well educated and willing to work with the students. I really felt like they cared about our success and wanted us to have a good time here as well. The horses were well cared for which was great to see and the riding lessons were tailored to our various skill levels. The location of the school was very close to Edinburgh and Glasgow was not very far either. It was easy to travel around and we even made it down to London on our free weekend. There were also excursions that were built into the program that was very interesting. We got to visit a large racing yard as well as other really cool places. Overall this experience was great and I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to travel and learn more about horses.

Having ridden saddle seat my whole life, jumping and dressage were foreign concepts to me. I was excited and nervous to learn how to ride the different disciplines, and I was pleased to find out that it was okay that I had no experience in either of them! There were people from all different disciplines and experience levels. The instructors were very nice, helpful, and knowledgeable! I feel like I really learned a lot about the different styles of riding and I feel like I really improved as the weeks went on. Another cool thing about the riding portion of this program was that we were able to ride different horses. Being able to ride different horses helped my riding confidence a lot.

I really enjoyed the academic side of this program, as well! The classes were challenging, but still very fun. The professors are very nice and more than willing to help you succeed. Coming into the program, I had a general understanding of the class material that was covered, but being able to specifically study the equine side of it was a fun change and more within my interests.