WorldStrides Reviews

I loved studying abroad in Salamanca because it gave me a perfect immersion into Spanish culture with the college-town feel. My professors really fostered cultural learning and awareness, but were also in tune with international students wanting to experience the culture hands-on and outside the classroom as well. The ISA staff was beyond helpful with anything and everything, while my living situation in a residencia helped me make friends from all around Spain and develop in my speaking skills!

Studying abroad was the best experience of my life! ISA set me up with an amazing house mom, planned fun excursions, and was super involved but still encouraged independence with the students from all over the states! I would definitely suggest going for a semester or more and wish I could go again! ISA was the best value and had the best staff!

Going abroad with ISA was a great decision. They provided us with activities do to a lot of the days we were there, and even planned excursions to Cinque Terre and an overnight trip to Rome. The ISA staff abroad was very helpful and were always around if you needed them. When my roommate got sick, the staff made her a doctors appointment and walked us there so we wouldn't get lost. The only difficulty I had while abroad was getting lost in the city. After a couple weeks I had learned where everything was and was able to find my way around. We had a very nice apartment in Florence, and I was able to make a lot of new friends that I will have forever. Living in another culture for a month was a great experience.

I loved my study abroad experience! Kingston was the perfect location as it was only a short train ride from central London and the town itself is very nice. I felt completely safe the whole time I was there (walking around town day and night). It has a ton of shops, restaurants, a movie theatre, a market, lots to do on the weekends, a great bus system, and I loved walking along the river to get to class every day. I was at the Penryhn Road campus and lived in halls at Seething Wells. I had my own room and bathroom, but shared a kitchen with 5 flatmates. Kingston University even has awesome free buses for students, which was useful when it rained or was too cold to walk to campus. The school is very diverse and multicultural. My classes consisted of a lecture and seminar 1-2x a week for each class and my only grade in each was a final essay or exam. This has pros and cons as I had to make sure I did a lot of work outside of class on my own and stay on track, but it also gives you a little more flexibility since you don't have homework and tests every week. I kept a blog during my whole experience if you'd like to check it out:

A day in Roma is better day then anywhere else. The staff was wonderful and was so helpful in every situation. They even came to the grocery store when we couldnt find things we needed (we couldnt read the labels haha). Roma has so much culture and experiences that you never have a day where there is nothing to do.

I went to Costa Rica on a complete whim. I chose my program randomly and ISA's Costa Rica Heredia program was the hands down absolute best experience I could have ever dreamed about. I loved the classes and my professors. The directors are absolutely amazing... They end up as your good friends at the end of your trip. Also, Heredia is a smaller town so I always felt completely safe and it's a short bus ride to San José for travel across the country on weekends. The excursions were great and I always came back feeling refreshed and wanting to explore Costa Rica more. My host family became like my own family and I absolutely adored them; honestly, I can't wait to go back and visit them. I would recommend this program to every single person I meet, especially if they want to improve their Spanish!

This was an absolutely wonderful experience that allowed me to experience parts of Spain on my own terms while still having a support system to answer any questions I had. Not only was Valencia beautiful, but the ISA staff was so helpful in highlighting places for me to visit and providing suggestions of what to do and see. The pre-determined excursions were very fun and allowed me to see the best parts of Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona in a limited amount of time, and I was still allowed plenty of time to explore on my own. Therefore I really felt that I was able to become part of the community by living there day to day (unlike a tourist), but I was not completely abandoned to figure everything out on my own. I had an absolutely wonderful time and ISA did a great job of arranging a host grandma for me to stay with. The food she prepared was so delicious and the conversations we had not only improved my Spanish skills, but also gave me a better sense of the culture by learning more about her and her lifestyle. Classes were very manageable and the University of Valencia was very conveniently located to my home and other activities. I would highly recommend this program because of how easy ISA makes everything and also because Valencia is the perfect combination of history, modernity, and beach.

Morocco is a beautiful country. My stay in Meknes was nothing short of wonderful. Despite the occasional ups and downs of the study abroad experience, I learned and valued so many things. I am grateful to have had this experience!

Rome has so much to offer students of every type and interest. Spending even just an afternoon in the city full of modern life and yet infused with the ancient remains of the past is enough to make anybody question how they think about history. Combined with the proximity to the Vatican, Rome just has so much to offer. ISA had a great program with excursions to Florence and Sorrento, and AUR is a great school with supportive faculty and great students.

In the famous words of Pablo Neruda I love this city and the entire country of Chile. Chile has so much to offer to the adventurous college student. I wish every day that I was back there living every minute as an adventure. Not a day went by when I didn’t learn hundreds of new things whether that was learning yet another new meaning for the word “raja” or seeing the birthplace of poet Gabriella Mistral.
There is adventure in every direction. In the host city of Valparaiso there at sweeping views of hills packed with brightly colored houses, full of life and culture. To the west is the expansive coastline of the pacific and the elusive Easter Island. To the east the gorgeous snow-capped Andes mountains that offer countless hikes and breathtaking ski trips. To the north the driest desert in the world where you feel so close to the sky that you can touch the stars. To the south is the legendary Patagonian region that speaks for itself as one of the wonders of the world.
I stayed with a host family that welcomed me with open arms. I still talk to my host mom on a regular basis. I lived with her and my Chilean grandmother; they quickly became more than just a temporary family. My Chilean mom used to dance and sing in folklore musical group that performed throughout central Chile. When independence week came around I was taught the traditional dance (the Cueca) and dressed in and old costume to perform the dance at celebrations with my family. My Chilean grandmother even knitted me a lunchbox of my favorite colors so that I could sport it in style on my commute to school every day. I miss them so much. I can’t wait to make it back to Chile so that I can give them a hug again. I made Chilean friends, I joined a Frisbee league and the accepted me into their teams and we all hung out every weekend.
The ISA staff is wonderful, they really do make the transition easy and offer support in all areas of concern. Would recommend. I am jealous of all students who apply for this program and get to go.