WorldStrides Reviews

Heading to Cape Town for a year in 2014 with ISA, was hands down the best decision I've ever made in my young life. ISA was amazing and Cape Town is the greatest city in the world. After classes I would head to the ISA office to whip out some homework and chat with the friendly, helpful ISA staff, who became like my family abroad. With their support I was able to become really involved in the University of Cape Town campus. I joined the basketball and soccer teams. Every weekend I had a game with the soccer team and got to travel to neighborhoods all over Cape Town with my teammates and friends (we even made it to the national tournament!). ISA set me up with everything I needed to have the confidence to go out and explore the city/country. I could ask them for help regarding anything like what bus should I take on my trip to Durban? Or what was life like immediately after the end of apartheid? There is so much to learn in South Africa and ISA helped me navigate their fascinating history.

Where to start... This trip was incredible. I love the outdoors and New Zealand has so much to offer. I traveled all over the country (literally from the the most southern point, to darn near close to the most northern). The entire country is gorgeous. Making trips are highly encouraged; go see the country for what it really is. Great areas to go are the Tongariro Crossing, Mount Cooke, and Fjordlands. ISA does an amazing job making the transition into a country easy as well as constantly being there for support, and even taking the group on excursions. Even if you dont decide to go to New Zealand, go somewhere. The opportunity is there, take it.

I wanted to study abroad in New Zealand because I wanted an adventure, and my experience went above and beyond my expectations. I always felt safe when I was in NZ, but I was also able to step out of my comfort zone and experience new things at the same time. Living in the Uni Flats gave me the chance to live with both kiwis and other international students. I was also able to learn about the Maori culture through my ISA program as well as through my courses at the university. My ISA program leaders, Emily and Peren, were wonderful, and they played a big part in supporting us and also planned some "sweet as" excursions. Studying abroad in New Zealand through ISA is definitely something that I would recommend!

It’s hard to capture into words what it feels like to be truly happy. For me, that feeling came the day I realized that Wellington, New Zealand had danced its way so gracefully into my heart.

Studying abroad through ISA provided me with the perfect amount of structure, while allowing me to be independent. I will forever promote ISA's Bridging Cultures Program, as this multi-day orientation is an experience like none other that taught me a great deal about New Zealand's culture and lifestyle.

ISA's site support staff were also a huge perk to going through ISA. To sum it up, I received a phone call on my first day of "spring break" in Australia from my site specialist, who was just checking in to make sure I landed safely. The program staff's dedicate to their students i remarkable.

My experience studying at The University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand was a more enriching, thrilling, and overall life-changing experience than I ever could have imagined. I embraced the affable, genuine Kiwi culture, while also growing as an individual as I learned to live on the opposite side of the world. My flatting situation could not have been better, my friendships could not have been stronger and the scenery of New Zealand could not have been more breathtaking. I left New Zealand heartbroken to say goodbye, but also more fulfilled than ever by having my eyes opened to the adventure and excitement of a semester abroad. This experience was absolutely worthwhile, and I encourage anyone considering studying abroad to take the leap and go for it, because it will change your life in so many positive ways!

This incredible experience, however, could not have been possible without the help provided by The Education Abroad Network, whose staff—both at home and abroad—was there every step of the way to facilitate the process. My decision to choose The Education Abroad Network was by the one of the best decisions I made during my study abroad process. The TEAN staff was incredibly accessible, friendly, and knowledgeable. I had countless questions before leaving for New Zealand, and TEAN was there every step of the way. This was not a program hosted through my home University, so my decision to choose TEAN was based all on my own research, and I was confident that TEAN was the best program out there. This program was also the most affordable of all the options I researched-all while including a pre-semester 5 day excursion to Fiji and another week of traveling the North Island. Not only were the American TEAN staff incredibly helpful, but the TEAN members in Dunedin were just as amazing. I lost my phone my first day in Dunedin, and the staff was there right away to take me through the city and get me a new phone. Throughout the semester we had coffee catchups and various other excursions with them. I especially became good friends with our local TEAN guide, and I plan on continuing to keep in touch with her for the years to come! Even after returning home, TEAN has been there to help with the transcript process and the transition of coming home. I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone unsure of a program.

Australia is hands down the best place I've ever been. I'll never forget waking up to sunshine everyday and always being happy. One of my favorite places to sit and think was my balcony. I got to look out over the lake and just sit and take in everything I was experiencing. There was never a dull moment. One weekend I went to Moreton Island, which was amazing. I kayaked in the ocean at night where I was able to see sea turtles swimming underneath me because the kayaks were transparent. There was also a dolphin like seven feet away from us! I went sand tobogganing, where I got a face full of sand, but hey it was well worth it. The sand in the face or the giant hill I had to walk up didn't stop me from going down the mountain one more time.
Going abroad was easily the best decision I've ever made and especially the program I went with. They were always there if we needed them and genuinely cared about making our experience the greatest possible. I can't wait until I can go back and explore the country for more than a semester.
I encourage everyone to go down under for a semester, you'll never be the same!!

I loved my study abroad experience and took part in the optional pre-orientation trip to Fiji and would highly recommend it to everyone! It was such an amazing experience and a great opportunity to meet everyone in the group before school started. We stayed a Botara resort, the only one on the island, and we were all sans phones, computers, and watches for a week. All these factors and the crossing the international timeline meant that by the end of the week not a single person knew what day of the week it was! It was a surreal feeling to have no clue what day it was. The Gold Coast was a great central location from which to discover and explore the Eastern Coast of Australia.

Overall my experience with TEAN was nothing short of amazing. I lived on the beach in a hotel with people who I now call my best friends. We took full advantage of our time in the Gold Coast and planned activities to do every day or participated in events provided for us by TEAN. My favorite excursion planned by TEAN was our orientation in Sydney. We had things to do planned for us every day to explore the city and we were given knowledge on how to adapt to Australian culture. This orientation gave us the opportunity to make close friends with people studying all around Australia, and numerous close friendships were established during this week.

One of the wonderful experiences I have enjoyed while abroad in Newcastle, was on a Saturday that a local market was open. This market allowed me to access Newcastle's local culture in design & style as well as listening to local musicians and eating local foods. I attended this market with a few of my housemates both Australians and Americans. They were able to inform me on some of Newcastle's very interesting facts and some of their personal interesting facts. I felt very connected with Newcastle cultural and socially.

I had so many unique experiences while studying in Australia, but one of my favorites was when my friends and I randomly decided to skydive. I never really had a bucket list, but as I traveled around Australia I began to make one because I saw and heard of so many cool places to go and things to do. It all started with a weekend trip to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. The plan was to try to keep this trip as cheap as possible while still having a great time. A few days before we left we were talking with some of our Aussie friends about what we could do with our free days in Airlie Beach and one of them brought up sky diving. My friends and I who were going on the trip immediately agreed that we HAD to skydive there which threw our cheap weekend trip plan out the window. Interestingly enough it was harder to convince my parents I would be okay than it was to convince myself. The fear really hit me when I was on the bus ride to the airport because I had never done anything like this before. I was the first of my friends to jump out of the plane and I have to say it was terrifying for the first few seconds but absolutely amazing at the same time. I got to see the world (and one of the most beautiful countries) from a point of view most people never get! If I could, I would skydive on every trip I go on!