Program Reviews

Do the month long high school program in BA, Argentina with Arcos. My son spent the whole month of July in Argentina living with a family, taking Spanish classes, making new friends and participating in cultural activities like visits to art museums, cooking classes, horseback riding, Tango lessons and a show, and visiting Colonia, Uruguay. Since he doesn’t drive yet and doesn’t want to go to camps anymore this was the ideal experience for him. Arcos is extremely professional, and they are good communicators. The program director in Buenos Aires was very communicative with us while our son was there. We originally were looking at an 8 week program with YFU, but we decided the application process was too laborious and 8 weeks was a bit long for his 1st experience abroad by himself. He made some great friends while he was there, they did a lot of activities hanging out in Buenos Aires. He loved the freedom and taking the metro. He now is obsessed with living in a "walkable" city in the future. He always felt safe, but he said he had to be aware of his surroundings. Go do this program if you are flexible, have a sense of curiosity and adventure about the world!!!!!!!

Do not go to southern Spain in the summer in this program. What is not revealed on the website or in any other communications is that neither the school nor the homestay have air conditioning. Since the daily temperatures reach between 95 and 108 degrees and the apartment buildings retain that heat into the night, sleeping is miserable. My daughter was in a tiny room with another girl with no air conditioning or ventilation. The landlady took away the remote control for the one ceiling fan so they couldn't put it above the low setting or use it for too many hours as she was concerned about electricity use. My daughter actually fainted twice in the apartment during the first couple of days. The landlady also limited them to 3 minute showers each day--yes, 3 minutes! She would bang on the bathroom door if she thought they were using too much water. This was clearly just a boarding situation with the landlady's only concern being her profit and not the comfort or cultural experience of the students.

The local directors were kind and tried to make the excursions fun. However, there was a lot of free time and Granada is a small city with not much to do. The kids were not allowed to leave the city, so they did not get to explore any other cities even though they were there for 2 weeks. All of the excursions were day trips in the Granada area and it would have been nice to take some overnight trips to different cities.

I am a Spanish teacher at a small boarding school in New York state. I have been working with Brent and the Arcos team since 2018, and they are the best. This past year was my second trip to Oaxaca with Arcos, and my fifth trip overall (I have also gone to Granada and Costa Rica with them), and I would continue to recommend their program whole-heartedly. Brent and his whole team are incredibly responsive to the needs and preferences of each school, as well as to each of the individual students who are part of the group. The level of personalized care is really special, and that is what has made me want to continue working with Arcos rather than with a larger, less personal organization. Once we were on the ground, our coordinator Pris was also incredible, having a great rapport with both the students as well as with the teachers. She is also very knowledgable and passionate about her city. (She always knew exactly when we needed a little detour or break to get ice cream or ‘pan dulce’!) The host families were all really great and caring, and my students loved all parts of their trip.

My experience was so much fun! I had a school trip to Granada Spain and we had so much fun. My teachers were very good at informing me on interesting facts about the history of Granada. When we had Spanish classes closer to the end of the trip, our teacher was super friendly and I learned a lot from her lessons! Over all I would say this is a very fun trip and I would definitely suggest this to future students! I look forward to having more classes with Arcos in the future and seeing students having fun with it too!

The trip to Oaxaca was amazing!! Students were able to learn things they never would have in a classroom. They had many unique experiences while abroad. We always felt safe in the city and were able to see so and do so much!!!! Students participated in cooking classes, shopped at many markets, went swimming, hiking, to museums AND THE FOOD!!!! Everything we has was fresh and tasted amazing!! The program directors were always so helpful from the very beginning and even after the program was over.

This program really helped me to navigate a country that spoke a different language than my native one. I got to experience not only the beautiful sights of Oaxaca like Hierve El Agua, but also experience the culture. This included things such as chocolate making, weaving, and traditional cooking. My home-stay experience broadened my horizon's as well. I thoroughly enjoyed conversing with my host mom every night over dinner in Spanish! Overall I really enjoyed this experience as it provided me with so many skills that I can use later on in life!

My son has done two trips with Arcos now and has absolutely loved it. Everything is extremely well organized. The communication is prompt and thorough. The host families are carefully vetted and always a good match for your kid. He has come home both times with endless stories from the planned activities and excursions. Both times he has been beaming for days. We were very nervous, as any parent would be, when he took his first trip abroad. Now, as long as his school is still working with Arcos, we are completely confident that he is safe, having fun, and being thoroughly enriched and immersed in local culture. I cannot say enough good things about the organization and its staff!

Man, this was the best camp i have ever done in my whole 15 years of living this was the coolesti mean the whole thing was wicked, surfing, mountain hiking, horseback riding. honesty the thing i loved most about it was there was no rigorous schedule, everything was chill and easy breezy. the guide was so amazing and kind and all the boys i went with were wildly fun. and it wasn't activities all day every day, some days we just chilled on our beachside cabins and watched movies. other times we layed on the beach and blasted reggae. whatever your needs are this trip will meet them, as long as your open o try new things! the trip was fantastic and i so recommend it to anyone. do incredibly stupid crazy things (Maybe keep that between u and me) and tag me on ur gram @Zakbattla

Great program. Teen oriented. Safe. Educational. Super fun. Boys did both a Spanish emersion in Buenos Aires and ski program in Pantagonia. Amazing mentors and group leaders. My two fifteen year olds had a wonderful time. They have met other kids from all over the world. Kevin, their program director, was dependable, enthusiastic, and took great care of them. Highly recommend! We are considering using Arcos again, either for the same program or something similar but in another country in South America. Working with Brent, programs admin, was great. He is quick to respond, solve issues, and supportive.

I loved everything about this trip. The blend of security, safety, fun and freedom was perfect. I could not only have fun but feel safe and confident in my choices. It was super pooler duper cool. I had a lot of fun and made many friends. Skiing was so awesome. I would recommend this program to anyone regardless of their background. Meeting new people in the city was also very interesting. I made several new friends and hung out with them on occasion. This program also helped my develop my Spanish language.