Program Reviews

The three weeks I spent with Sol Abroad were one of the best weeks of my life! I enjoyed participating in the cultural activities with other high school students from different parts of the United States. I will never forget the moments in which I saw Picasso's art in real life, slid down a nearly vertical waterslide, hiked through small picturesque villages in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, took a four-hour tour of the majestic Alhambra, watched a spectacular flamenco performance, relaxed in the idyllic Arabian baths, and much more. This trip gave me opportunities to fully immerse into the Spanish language and culture. I enjoyed conversing with my host in Spanish during long mealtimes. My host mother was very welcoming to my roommate and I. She prepared excellent dishes, with my personal favorites including: an Italian pizza recipe, a three-layered chocolate cake, a spinach and chickpeas dish, and a pie with strawberries and peaches. My host mother has also showed me several landmarks and buildings around Granada, Spain. We even got to visit her family's shop, and we got to meet her friendly and well-mannered grandchildren.
Not only I had a positive experience with the host family and the program's activities, but I also liked attending Spanish classes at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas. Though the coursework was challenging, my Spanish skills have flourished. Both of my Spanish professors were very helpful and understanding. They were open-minded, and allowed me to have fun with the Spanish language. Through the classes, I have also interacted with college students, as well as other high school students, from different parts of the world. I enjoyed participating in group activities, reading authentic texts in Spanish, and writing. I will never forget the time we had to write creative stories in Spanish, and my group decided to write about a "superhero mango."
Overall, this experience was very pleasant! It allowed me to think outside the box, form connections with other individuals, improve my language skills, and overall explore new places. I am definitely interested in participating in study abroad programs when I attend college. I enjoy traveling and learning about the different cultures around the world.
A suggestion I have for future language-immersing participants is to speak the target language from day one. The best way to learn a new language is to start immersing into it. Since I was in a Spanish-speaking country, I heard Spanish all around me, not just in the classroom. I understand that some people may feel a little bit nervous about speaking a foreign language, but the locals are very understanding. From my experience, I noticed that the locals were excited that I was interacting with them in their own language. Even though I may have made some mistakes, they were still accepting.
And to conclude, I definitely recommend this study abroad program for future travelers! It is very educational, as well as adventurous!

When I went to Oacaxa I was terrified that I was going to spend a month doing nothing, being bored, and not making any friends. But when I got there I was pleasantly surprised. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Ena the head person was amazing. She was so kinda and funny. She made everything 100 times better. I made amazing friends who I will never forget. I also experienced once in a life time opportunities. I learned so much about the local culture and increased my ability to speak Spanish, which is a very weak area for me. The program really struck the right balance between school work and studying and fun activities. I always felt safe and well supported. Words cannot express how happy I am that I did this program. I had so much fun and I would do it again if I could.

Everyone learning a language should go abroad because it can be an amazing experience, and sol abroad provides the structure needed to make it great. Sol abroad’s late curfew was good because it allowed time for me to explore the city. Also, despite doing an activity every day, we usually still has enough free time to either take a nice long siesta or walk to the ends of the city. Plus, the activities we did were usually pretty interesting and exciting.

My school has worked with SOL Abroad for several years now. As a first time teacher-led faculty advisor for my school, I always felts in safe hands with Sol Abroad. The students had a fantastic time. The on-sight program advisors made the experience one of the best. The teachers the students had were knowledgeable and made learning immediately applicable. I highly recommend this program to any teacher looking to lead an immersion type trip for their students.

Buenos Aires surpassed all of my expectations a million times over. The city is beautiful, the host families are excellent, and the activities are extremely informative and entertaining. I had some reservations about the city safety wise, which I realized were unfounded when I arrived. In addition the porteño accent is difficult to understand so beginners may have a hard time at first, but the accent is super unique and after a while it's quirks will become second nature. I would definitely recommend traveling to Buenos Aires through Sol Abroad.

Great trips and people but Spanish speaking should be more enforced/incentived when within the group. The excursions were very fun and usually well thought out. Every meal was delicious and safety was a constant. We didn’t go in some of the promised excursions due to various reasons which was a let down. The host family was great. Costa Rica was a great place to go because it has so many different things to offer without feeling too touristy, though at times it did feel a little cheesy, that’s inevitable though.

I absolutely loved my experience in Costa Rica and it was an amazing first time traveling. Although my host mother had some days where she was rude everything else about my experience was fantastic. I loved every excursion, dance, and food I had in Costa Rica. Rooming with my best friend was an experience we could never get any other way. Our host sister was amazing and the amount of new language I picked up in only two weeks is incredible. I absolutely fell
in love with Costa Rican culture and dance. I made friends with ticos and our tour guides Catalina and Orlando were the most amazing people my group could ask for. We truly became a family on our trip.

BEST SUMMER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved everyone I became friends with there! I still talk with them all everyday. The housing made me step out of my comfort zone completely but in the end I loved it. I wish we had hot water because I was cold but oh well. The food was good and school wasn’t bad at all. I liked our teacher! We did a lot of fun things like shopping and zip lining! I loved meeting the locals and speaking the language with them. I learned a lot about the culture and would do it all over again in a heart beat!

I loved traveling with Sol. I learned so much and have a more genuine understanding of the spanish language that is impossible to achieve in an american classroom. My favorite part was my host family and roommates. One thing i would do differently personally would be to speak spanish to my other roommates all the time in the presence of my host parents. The dinner table was where I would speak the most spanish but I don’t think that was enough. Next time, I would also speak to more kids my age who live in Spain. I would have loved to take away friendships with Spanish kids.

I really enjoyed my time in Argentina. I'll never forget the experience that I had with SOL Abroad. I built many relationships with many people and I hope that we remain in contact with each other! The experience that I got with SOL Abroad made me feel comfortable, almost like I was home, even though I was a continent away. One of the reasons why I participated in the SOL Abroad program was because I really wanted to improve my Spanish, and I truly believe that I accomplished my goal. If anyone is interested in the SOL Abroad Argentina program, definitely do it!!