Program Reviews

Raul is the Director there and he welcomes you in as if you were family. Argentina is his home and he proudly shows you all the best spots. He even invited us into his home for New Years, during which we were able to see fireworks coming out of almost every yard in view! What a great experience. Plus being immersed helps your Spanish improve immensely.

Other things to note:
-My house mom was wonderful and we are still in touch 5 years later.
-The people I studied abroad with opened up my mind to the world and a few of us just reunited in Austin 5 years later!
-Beautiful country, amazing people, just an overall wonderful experience!

When someone comes back from going abroad it is hard to truly captivate what growth and experiences they have gained in the process. During my time abroad, which now just feels like a dream, I was pushed to my limits and challenged unlike I had been in the past. I was physically pushed by hiking volcanos, whitewater rafting, cliff jumping, and attempts at surfing. Mental I was pushed whether it was simply learning the language or ideology and philosophy. The trip gave me everything I had hoped to gain- amazing stories, wonderful pictures, knowledge, confidence, and friends.

Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina was amazing! Incredible night life, and beautiful diverse parts of the city to explore during the day. I had an awesome host mom, who made the best dinners (gained about 10 pounds, but empanadas are worth it).
My program director, Rual, was not overly helpful. He always posted information last minute with sketchy details. He didn't help people find tutors when struggling in class. Overall disorganized and unhelpful. But Sol education abroad is awesome. Every time I called the office in Texas they took their time to answer me fully and ensure I was all set. The program also had a ton of cultural activities set up for us in Buenos Aires and excursions to great places around the country.

A lot of Costa Rica is just going where life takes you. One weekend, life took me to Manuel Antonio. While I sat at the beach, baby monkeys would distract visitors while the adults would get into bags. We even had a racoon open up one of our backpacks trying to get food. Who would have thought the best pick pockets here would be the animals! You really had to be careful with your items, or else something would get their paws all over it.

University of Houston - Downtown's study abroad to Costa Rica offered together with SOL Education Abroad is nothing less than perfect! It is the perfect length for a real but not unreasonable commitment. It is the perfect place because it is exotic but somehow quite familiar. It has the perfect classes offered for any level of Spanish Language study. The host families are incredible. The excursions are unmatched. And the overall experience is exactly what it's advertised to be, ¡Pura Vida!

I had one of the greatest days of food, friends and fun in Buenos Aires while traveling with Sol Education Abroad. It started with a morning stroll to a café and a bus ride to school. After a couple classes a few friends and I made the short 15 minute walk to El Barrio Chino (Chinatown) of the Belgrano neighborhood. We spent hours checking out all the cool shops and finished it out with a nice big plate of fresh Chinese food that is some of the best I have ever had due to the high quality of argentine beef used.
Before returning home that day I had a short afternoon study session at a café. After a small dinner and some down time comes the best part of the day. A group of mixed American/Argentine friends got together to have an amazing steak dinner complete with empanadas, wine and sides to share for amazingly cheap, about $15 American per person. As night falls the city really comes alive.
Around 9-10 at night the restaurants start to fill up and all of the bars and clubs prepare themselves. In Argentina nightlife starts at 11 at the earliest. After the amazing dinner our group spent a couple hours chatting and drinking at a bar before heading to the dance club. In Buenos Aires it is customary for college aged people to stay out until the sun comes up which is exactly what we did.
I have never been so content in my whole life going to sleep the next morning around 7am. Still tasting the fantastic steak and exhausted from a night of dancing and laughing left me perfectly poised to drift off to the most restful sleep possible.

I think this program is very well set up with the excursions during the first three weeks and time to travel alone or with friends during the following weeks that you chose to stay for the program. I also believe the three week long programs are a good amount of time for each class. My favorite part of the whole experience was my host family. They were so personable and willing to open their house to me that by the time I left 11 weeks later I felt as if I was part of the family. I miss them every day, and they really helped me to enjoy the experience more. Overall this experience was well worth the cost and I would love to study abroad through SOL Education Abroad again.

Costa Rica is truly a magical place. From the cities, to the beaches, to the forests and rivers, there wasn't one part of this beautiful country that I didn't fall in love with. Yes, there's poverty and crime, but that's part of life. I never felt unsafe in Costa Rica with the guidance and support of the Sol directors. They exceeded my expectations in more ways than I could ever have imagined. They helped us to see beyond tourist attractions in order to fully experience the purest essence of Costa Rica. They encouraged us to interact with locals, try new foods, buy locally and ethically made products, and to be sensitive toward customs and traditions. They did a magnificent job of selecting roommates and host families. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon this amazing program and location. I met people and experienced things that I never would have if I hadn't embarked on this journey. I now feel that I know myself on a much deeper level through studying abroad. A million thank yous to Sol and Costa Rica for the experience of a lifetime!

My last weekend in Costa Rica, I went to Montezuma. I woke up, terrified, to the sounds of a gang of howler monkeys, ate my last casado, climbed and scaled a waterfall, made friends with a giant, very pushy bird and three fellow travelers, learned how to surf, and got to see the most beautiful nature!

key points

The academics of this program were most definitely intensive, we covered more in a day than I would have in a month at school back home, the teachers were there to help, as long as you asked in spanish! :)
My program leader had all of us program his number into our phones immediately when we arrived, and could be at any place at any time if a student needed help. If there was a smaller issue a quick text away was a quick and helpful answer.
I LOVED! my homestay! I will admit at first I wanted my own place when I saw it was an option, I have everyone to thank for not letting me do that! My house mother was the nicest woman ive ever met and was there for me and my three roommates at any given time. Yes, that even means getting spoon fed chicken noodle soup on a sick day off school! The house was in a great location and incredibly comfortable. A home away from home.
I am the pickiest eater of them all, so a 5 star sounds impossible but the food blew my tastebuds away! the home meals, the resturants/local food, and yes even the school food. I never once went a day not feeling completely stuffed.
After living in any city for a month you start to feel integrated, I knew my way around subways and buses and the major neighborhoods of the city by the time I was done! No help necessary. The language barrier was the only reason I couldn't quite ever feel too welcomed. Besides that I now feel as I wouldnt mind living there as a local one day and I could talk about the culture for hours, as it is so different from my own.
One day I felt very sick, feverish and just too weak to get to school. Without even having to notify my housemother who spoke no english, she realized I was not well and kept me in bed all day giving me proper medications after asking if I was allergic to anything. We made the good call to wait until the end of the day to head to the doctor and lucky for me whatever I was given helped enough and I was good to go by the next day with no doctor needed, and my program director and parents were already notified of my illness before I even got the chance to do it myself.
I almost never felt unsafe. I had a safe wonderful trip but the only thing to watch out for was pickpocketers, a couple kids on the trip had items taken in common public places without noticing for a while.
They more than prepared me, the only thing they did not do was tell me how to not be so excited! Not a bad thing at all :)