Program Reviews

My trip to Costa Rica is a trip that I will never forget. It helped me grow as a person and a student. I learned about a culture unfamiliar to my own and about the people from the country. It taught me to be more understanding and open minded. Of course I learned plenty of Spanish, but more importantly I learned a lot about myself. I would not trade this experience for anything.

I had a great experience with SPI study abroad this summer. I made a lot of new friends from around the US who I still stay in contact with. I loved my roomates and grew a very close bond with them. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with great food and lovely people. It really helped me improve my spanish and everyone was so caring and kind, I highly reccomend this trip.

This trip was a life changing experience! I got to immerse myself in Spanish at a beautiful school, while also being a 2 minute walk from the beach! I highly recommend it to any high school student looking for a one of a kind cultural immersion experience! The program staff for both SPI and the school were so nice and they were always there to help us! From day one, you'll live with a host family that will, by the end of the trip become your second family! Weekdays are spent doing activities or volunteer service in the morning. Usually activities were visiting local beaches, horse back riding, and cultural activities. The volunteer service was so much fun and it's even better knowing you're making a difference. The weekends were our big activities. One of them was visiting a national park where we went horse back riding, river tubing, and zip lining, all in the same day! We also had an optional sunset cruise where we went snorkeling off the coast of Playa Tamarindo! The weekday afternoons are spent at the language school. The first day you're tested and placed in a class from anywhere from 1-4 students my year since we were a small group. the teachers make the classes very fun and usually you do an activity each class. The school in Flamingo also gives out snacks during break time and the school even has its own pool! The food on the program was so good! If you're not up to diving straight into Costa Rica food, for lunch there are a few different options. With your host family, I can guarantee that everything will be yummy! My advice would be to be open to different kinds of food! Most of it is rice and different meats that you're used to so it isn't that far of a stretch! You'll almost always have a roommate depending on the group, and everyone in the group will become best friends by the end. Beaches, surfing, clear water, hilltop restaurants, gelato (yes there is gelato!), what is there not to love! Safely was never an issue during my time there! Everyone in the village we stayed at knew each other and we got to know our neighborhood ice cream owner and convenience store owner. There are so many more things I want to mention about the trip but I don't want to make this into a novel! Please feel free to message me about any question that you have about the program! Trust me, you'll never get sick of the Costa Rica sunsets! Pura Vida!

SPI Siena is truly a terrific program. I feel you really cannot go wrong with an immersion-based experience, but SPI surpassed both my and my daughter's expectations. She was able to be completely enmeshed in Italian culture, and her language level improved greatly in the four weeks she was there. She greatly, greatly enjoyed the chance to participate in Il Palio, the horse race and festival that takes place in Siena every year. Her homestay was with a a loving, caring older woman who cooked every meal for her and her roommate -- the most delectable authentic Italian food you can imagine! SPI offers some great day trips and excursions with this program; the chance to see Orvieto was a favorite of my daughter's. Perhaps most importantly, as a parent, I felt completely comfortable with the level of supervision that SPI provided.

Not only was the program fantastic, but the immersion in Biarritz made it so much better. The town was beautiful and perfect for walking around. It was the perfect location for 2 weeks. Talking with natives made my French ten times better!

While I had traveled before, nothing compares to the experience of studying and living abroad for several months. You not only get to see the culture of the town where you're living, but you get an appreciation for the differences that exist in this world, and it forever expands your point of view.

I had learned Italian previously, but there is an instant gratification to learning something and then going out into the world and using it that very same day. My recommendation is that you force yourself to have five solid conversations with strangers each day. Not only will it strengthen your language skills, but speaking to someone in their native tongue is empowering and enlightening.

My experience in Biarritz with SPI changed my life! I have to admit I wanted a study abroad program for the fun, but once I arrived I realized there was much more to it!
I have traveled outside the US multiple times with my family, but always stayed at hotels, sheltered from the "real world" during this program I stayed with an awesome family who not only helped with my French, but also helped me take in every aspect of the culture. I feel I have a second family in France! The school was very good too!
The program was easy on my, my school, and my parents. I felt really safe at all times, and never felt lost or intimidated thanks to the amount of information provided by SPI.

Merci beaucoup SPI!

Going to San Sebastian was an awesome idea. I bonded with my friends from school and made new friends. Being able to speak the language and experience the culture helped me improve my Spanish because my homestay did not speak any English at all. It is such a great and safe beach town in Spain, and the directors are really friendly. The classes and teachers are great. There is so much to do in San Sebastian that my two weeks in Spain was the best week of my life. I would do anything to go back.

I studied with SPI in San Sebastian in 2006. It was an incredible experience! I still keep in contact with a lot of the people I met, including my homestay family, Maritxu and Valentin. I highly recommend studying abroad with SPI programs because they really do offer well-rounded opportunities with lots of chances to use your language. I participated in the Siena, Italy program in 2007 too!

I studied abroad with SPI in 2007 after having already studied in San Sebastian with them. It was a great program with really enthusiastic leaders. I definitely recommend the Siena program as you get to live in one of the most beautiful places in Italy!