Program Reviews

The TLDR of my review is it was ultimately worth it because of the experience I had and how much I grew. It opened me up to the possibilities that I hadn't realized were within my grasp.

However, the financial cost was somewhat unexpected as we were encouraged to pay for multiple activities in addition to the trip. I hope in future programs they will be more transparent with this in the future.

While I was with a host family in France, my initial first experience with the family was disheartening to say the least. With my second host family, I really was able to enjoy myself. I was not the only student who had a negative initial experience with the host family.

As for my internship, I was so grateful for what I got. I still keep in contact with my boss and made some great memories while in Stockholm. This is not necessarily something that I thing EF needs to do, but I wish that I had been told that there were so many career opportunities while in Stockholm because I feel some regret after for not having taken advantage of that while there.

Taking the EF gap year has shaped the person I am today in so many incredible ways. This program is perfect if you want to see and experience new places in a fun and safe community. Traveling always has its moments of uncertainty, however, the EF local staff always did their best to support us and provide a plethora of information on the places visited. I loved this particular program because it allowed me to visit multiple countries and participate in a language study, service work, and an internship. Those experiences paired with tourist activities allowed me to fully experience the countries I was living in. This program allowed me to gain independence, meet so many wonderful people, and see places I never thought I would have the opportunity to see. I’m so grateful for this experience and highly recommend it to anyone considering!

I traveled Europe because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. While I was in Europe I found myself and who I wanted to become. I shed my ego and my worries and became someone who wanted to embrace change and help others along this crazy journey we call life. EF gave me that opportunity and also gave me the opportunity to make friends for life. I will be forever grateful for being naive because I am now the person I am to today because of it. I will always be grateful to EF, for ever.

My gap year experience was life changing. It’s unique that I got to learn a language, volunteer, have an internship and travel to so many places all over the world in the span of six months. I learned so much about the world and interacted with a variety of cultures along the way. The experience taught me how to travel with others and also cherish the time to myself.

I’m now living and working abroad in Thailand, one of the countries I visited with EF. The gap year gave me the confidence and skills needed to make that possible.

During my EF gap semester, I was able to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world, meet some of my best friends, and work on environmentally-focused projects in several different countries, all while improving my Spanish and learning new words in Quechua. I also had the opportunity to do this program under a Digital Media fellowship and my EF experience allowed me to get a taste of the life of a traveling videographer/documentarian, which I am eternally grateful for. The whole experience is one that I will happily and gratefully carry with me for the rest of my life.

The four week program to Costa Rica through EF was amazing! Staff from the very beginning are friendly and professional, and everything was very well organized. We weren’t just sightseeing, we were doing a lot of learning about Costa Rica culturally as well as learning about sustainable agriculture and doing service work. The team dynamic was amazing. Our tour guide and our EF team lead helped create such a great team environment. I made excellent friends that I am keeping in touch with. We all felt grateful for our chance to be there to connect with people as well as each other. Thank you, EF!

I was so worried about college and my next steps in life after I graduated high school in 2022. I decided I wanted to take a gap year and see where life takes me. In the fall of my gap year, I found EF’s website and fell in love. I decided on the European discovery since I always wanted to go to Europe especially France and Italy! I worked and saved the next few months and in April of 2023, I finally flew to London and met my fellow travelers. And I can’t put into words how amazing it was. I had a great group and tour leaders who made the experience so much better! I felt supported 24/7. It was affordable with insurance plans, a phone bill plan and great hotel/hostel accommodations! I felt safe at all times. We had amazing dinner reservations, wonderful tour guides in the cities we were at and special activities such a cheese factory, a cooking class and more!
I will be returning to EF on my next trip!

I loved this program! It was great for developing independence while still having group events, and access to guidance and support. I also loved taking Spanish classes at EF Malaga; the teachers teach in spanish regardless of your level, which at first made me nervous but actually, I loved! I learned soo much in the short time being there, and am definitely more confident with my Spanish skills. I also loved how we got to travel to Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona! Overall great and would definitely recommend!

I attended the EF Gap finder as a fresh college graduate and this program was everything I could've wished it could be. Although many of my fellow travelers were recent high school graduates, we all came from many different walks of life. This program was perfectly structured to ensure we saw the many highlights that the various European cities had to offer. From seeing the Northern Lights, to taking a cruise along the Seine river overlooking the Eiffel Tower, to tasting authentic Parmesan cheese in the Parma Region of Italy it was perfect. Not only did I learn so much about all of these amazing places, I made incredible lifelong friends who I continue to keep in touch with and am making plans to see again very soon. EF took care of everything so I could sit back and enjoy my trip knowing that everything would be taken care of. The trip was a perfect combination of structured activities and free days, in which you can spend how you choose, which included for me a trip to Stonehenge and a day trip to Dresden in Germany. I would absolutely recommend this trip to anyone wanting to travel, even if they had no real prior travel experience. I would relive my gap semester again in a heartbeat.

I would 100% recommend this experience to everyone. I took gap year and wanted to do something outside of my comfort zone that would allow me to go out and see the world and most importantly grow as a person and find myself before going to college. The European Discovery was perfect for this. EF was so helpful the entire time, and the experience was amazing; it was the perfect balance of structure and independence. I met so many wonderful people and am even looking at doing another trip in the spring!