WorldStrides Reviews

I loved the Lady Elliot Island 5-day stay. We got to swim around the Great Barrier Reef island while taking underwater photography. We were 40 miles off the coast of Aus. The stars at night were amazing and the overall isolation from the mainland emphasised our overall group bonding and dynamics.

This program allowed me to live a dream! I highly recommend it. The staff was very helpful throughout the entire process, and the organization I worked for was excited to have me.

This program was the best experience of my life and the most helpful. I do not regret a moment of my time spent overseas. You are challenged all the time, finding that you can do more than you thought possible. Aboslutely apply to Australearn!

This was the best thing that ever happened to me. I lived in a great area and got to meet some of the best people. I loved being able to go to the beach every week and interact with the locals. One of the best days that I had was going out with a group of friends to the beach. On the way we stopped by our favorite Coffee shop, called 23 hundred got coffee and then spent the entire day at the beach. We hung out, swam and listened to music. One thing you have to remember you have to be open to meeting new people and enjoying your time there.

I always thought that I would have difficulties traveling around the country at first, but when I became friends with other students, it was easy to get around because we always traveled in groups and have fun along the way. It was the best experience and I would not trade anything for it. I would definitely go again if the opportunity arise.

New Zealand is beautiful. Even the cities had some of the most beautiful parks and gardens I have ever seen. The University campus was welcoming to all students and I was able to get involved with the Tramping (Backpacking) Club and the International Students Club. I was able to make friends in my classes and the professors were all helpful in making my academic experience enjoyable. The academic challenges were similar to my experience in the US. Outside of academics, traveling the country was incredible. There was always something exciting around the corner.

I absolutely loved going abroad, it definitely was the time of my life! Putting my entire experience of about 6 months into a paragraph or two is nearly impossible for me to do - I could talk about this for weeks. In short, I met so many great people from all over the world and since I have been back in the United States its been fun traveling to visit some of the people I met in Australia and even hosting a few Aussies at my home University!

I've also grown as a person which became more clear to me when I returned to my home University the following semester. After going abroad I am more independent and confident in nearly everything I do! This is because while I was abroad I was completely on my own which sounds easy but it was a bit overwhelming at first. I was in control of my money and had to maintain a budget to last me until I came home (nearly a whole 6 months!), I made my own flight arrangements - picked something that I wanted to do and went there. I even rented a car and learned how to drive on the other side of the road! And even simple things like learning how to take the city bus and go food shopping were all things I had to figure out how to do (Woolworths definitely was a life saver, a grocery store that delivers! I wish my home University had that!).

Overall experiencing life in another country was amazing. Everyday was exciting and something different I was always busy and thrilled about simple things that many of the locals take for granted. For example, walking to the beach was really interesting because I liked passing by houses and seeing how different they were to ones from my hometown and I loved riding the bus because I would be able to make small talk with locals and learn about a cool spot to see or event that was coming! And its even the same with everyday things like cars, street signs, buildings, clothing, foods - everything was new to me and I loved exploring!

I loved being in an apartment and living in South Bank. I also really loved the huge and beautiful campus of University of Queensland. It looks like Hogwarts! I did have some difficulty in the beginning of trip making friends but I ended up joining some clubs at school and that was really helpful. I met people from all over the world - from Sweden, Norway, China, England and of course Australia :)

I studied at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia. I could not have had a better experience and I owe a lot of that to The Education Abroad Network.

We were housed in 'beach housing' which was a beautiful hotel just a block from the beach. This housing was also just a short bus trip away from Bond Uni. The location of this housing was perfect. We were walking distance from shopping, tons of restaurants, bars, night clubs, you name it!

We were also very close to bus stops, and these buses could take you all over the area and also to the airport and train station. We took bus trips to Byron Bay, Burleigh Heads, Currumbin, Brisbane, just to name a few! The tickets were very reasonably priced, too.

The TEAN staff was unbelievably helpful and made planning schedules and any other trips really easy. They planned a pre-semester trip to Fiji and this was a great chance to meet the rest of the students on the trip. It was also an amazing trip in general! Delicious food, beautiful beaches and hiking!

This program made it very easy to make a ton of new friends. I had three random roommates from all over the U.S. and they soon became my best friends. TEAN plans different activities during the semester, which is a good opportunity to check-in with staff and make sure things are going well.

All in all, I could not have had a better trip. TEAN was fantastic.

My experience abroad with ISA was THE study abroad experience. I studied abroad in Fall 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. I loved the experience so much that I ended up interning for ISA to promote study abroad in general, but I am writing this review based on my experience in their program.
What really defined my experience was being able to be independent in the city but also having a support system and some familiarity. ISA really provided that because it has students from all over the United States and not just from your school; as a result, you are not surrounded by people from your university but you can meet other study abroad students through different outlets that you can relate to; your classes, ISA activities, excursions...Their staff is incredibly accommodating and like what they do, and they are always there if you need anything. I met friends not only from Spain but all over the United States, many of which I still keep in contact and visit.
I lived with a host family with another girl from ISA. Our host family was an elderly woman who spoke to us primarily in Spanish and cooked us the most amazing meals ever. She hosts to support herself, but was also interested in getting to know us and allowed us to be part of her life. My roommate and I were complete opposites (she was more of a city girl from Alaska and I was from a small town in Florida), but we ended up learning so much from each other and becoming lifelong friends.
We took classes at a local university called AUB. Overall, from what I heard, the classes were relatively accommodating because they were for international students. Mine had Brazilians, Chinese, Germans, but they were all taught in English (except the Spanish language classes). My electives were similar to my university's classes but with slightly less work, but my Spanish classes were particularly challenging because how they teach them are sort of sporadic. Our class did not have a syllabus and was hard to follow, and we only had one test at the end of semester; in the end, I did not really know what to expect or what to study, but it was probably because I just could not adapt to teaching style. I would recommend to make sure you are in the right language level and if you feel uncomfortable in it, try and change your schedule.
Every school day we would take the metro to school, which were two campuses meant for international students within the city. To make it easier to get around, get a T-Jove pass! It is expensive, about 100 euro, but you get free metro for about three or four months which was ideal for my program. It makes it very convenient on the weekends too because the metro is open 24 hours on Saturdays, and until midnight or 1 o clock on weekdays. Look out for festivals that the city does (ISA will send you information on upcoming events too). One of my most memorable experiences was being able to attend the events at the festival Merce (Look it up, you won't believe it! Its in the fall) that ISA told us about.
Also, a lot of students like to travel around Europe while they are there, which I highly recommend. Use the low-cost airlines like RyanAir and Vueling (especially Vueling because it is based out of Barcelona). Usually you can take weekend trips; I went to Ireland, Italy, France, and the south of Spain. Plus with your excursions, you can get a full travel experience.
I really enjoyed my experience abroad and ISA facilitated that experience very well. They also keep contact with you after you leave and offer you opportunities. For example, I work as an intern in their Global Ambassador program. What we do is promote their programs on campus through creating social activities and presentations to different clubs. Its also a great way to meet other people who are coming back from abroad and were just as passionate about their experience as you are. Anyway, I encourage anyone who reads this: Barcelona is an amazing city to study abroad in, and ISA really helps you make the most of it. BUT, study abroad in general! It is so worth it.