Program Reviews

I am 16 years old and my trip with Ef Tokyo was my first trip abroad alone.This trip was my favorite vacation ever and I have made so many friends from Japan and other countries. I was only with Ef Tokyo for two weeks but I learned a decent amount of Japanese while I was there. While in Tokyo you have a lot of free time and you can go wherever you would like. You can go throughout the country independently which was something surprising but definitely something I enjoyed. I took trips to Akihabara, Kyoto, Harujuku, Shinjuku, and so many other places. My residence was 1 hour by train away from the school which is in the heart of Shibuya which is an awesome location. One thing I didn’t like about the school was the time of the classes because some days they were at 9 while others were at 18:00. I loved meeting new people while I was in Japan especially Japanese people because it gave me a new perspective of life in Japan. I made a Japanese friend that
took me too his home town’s festival. If you go to Ef Tokyo you will have so much fun and make so many friends no matter how long you go. I really recommend Tokyo even if you are like me and knew 0 Japanese when you arrived. I’ll be honest it is sometimes hard to get around without being able to speak Japanese but I could always rely on google translate so I’m the end it was okay. I also really enjoyed the activities the school provided. My favorite one was my trip to Kyoto where I bought a model katana and learned about Japan’s history. If you like the city or the country side Ef Tokyo is great because in 1 hour from the residence is the heart fi Tokyo and 1 hour the other way you can visit beaches and mountains. I am so glad I did Ef Tokyo even though I was super nervous in the beginning. The staff was great and everyone there is super nice I really do recommend visiting Ef Tokyo! Oh one more thing the food! I loved the food you can get such good food for so cheap. Japan is the most beautiful country I have visited and I hope everyone can experience Japan once in their lives!

I traveled to Rome for 4 weeks through EF and have had the most amazing experience. I stayed through the Dotcsmpus which is about 20 min away from the center and school. Overall, this trip has been the time of my life, Rome is a beautiful city, with so much culture and history but I also had the opportunity to really learn some Italian while being here through a couple of my instructors at the school. On top of all of this, within this experience I’ve met incredible people from all over the world, in which I will see again in my future. Truly the best trip!

Advisor was always available, until I signed my 17 yr old daughter up. After that, I could not reach her by phone, email or even by scheduling a phone appointment online. She completely “ghosted” me and my husband. I called EF 800 number to talk to someone else and they would not talk to me, only transfer me to our advisor which would go straight to her voicemail.
Host family was horrible to my daughter. And since the advisor wouldn’t answer my calls, there was nothing I could do, short of moving her into an Airbnb. My daughter was getting badly bitten by mosquitoes every night in her bedroom. Host wouldn’t allow my daughter to close the window or use a small fan. Host threatened my daughter she’d charge her for electricity because my daughter would use a flat iron to straighten her hair. My daughters bedroom door didn’t lock, nor did the bath door, host would walk in without knocking. Host would dictate when my daughter could shower, which would throw her schedule off. Host would talk about my daughter to the other EF student in Spanish and complain that my daughter is messy and doesn’t help. Host yelled at my daughter for 2 drops of water on the hard floor that dripped from her leaving the shower to her bedroom. My daughter was uncomfortable and in tears nightly, and again the advisor was not responding to me at all. EF enrollment form said they would give free weekend activity if you referred a friend who booked, we provided all the proof, but never received anything. My daughter said she is learning more Spanish in Italy, because her host family speaks Spanish. The teachers at the campus; some are okay but giving instructions in Italian to a student that speaks 0 Italian isn’t helpful. My daughter who is a high honor straight A student, was frustrated and confused most the time. Don’t waste your money on EF Language Abroad. The advisor who I was in un-lucky to end up with should be fired. Her initials are M.M and her last name rhymes with tarr.

During my 2-week spring break, I decided to travel to Nice, France, for EF's intensive language immersion program. I had a wonderful time learning the language, interacting with locals, meeting new people, and exploring surrounding areas. I think the program is best geared towards younger students (ie high schoolers), but I was lucky to make friends with fellow adult learners. I was already at an intermediate-advanced proficiency in the language and would go back to France in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.

La atención desde el primer momento fue muy buena y la experiencia sin duda fue lo mejor también, he aprendido mucho gracias a ellos durante tan solo 2 semanas sin embargo conseguí mucha fluidez y confianza en cuanto a todas las cosas (hablar, leer, escuchar...) ya que aprender un idioma en el lugar en el que se habla creo que es lo mejor para aprender tanto este como la cultura y todo lo que lo engloba.
No tengas dudas si te lo estás pensando o llevas tiempo posponiendolo, créeme que no te arrepentirás

English:
The attention from the first moment was very good and the experience was undoubtedly the best too, I have learned a lot thanks to them during only 2 weeks, however I became very fluent and confident in all things (speaking, reading, listening. ..) Since learning a language in the place where it is spoken, I think it is the best way to learn both the language and the culture and everything that encompasses it.
Do not have doubts if you are thinking about it or have been postponing it for a long time, believe me you will not regret it

I've done an exchange year with EF and I couldn't be more grateful. They've been helpful with everything and supportive. As something really usual I've had ups and downs during my year and they've been there every time I needed something. Welcome days in New York are amazing and a really good experience to meet new people from all over the world and make new connections. I really enjoyed those days and made new friends. I'm so happy that since the first day, I chose EF to make my year abroad, thank you!

Amazing the crew has been so helpful. I am currently scheduled to go in May if 2023 and everyone is very helpful. I’m very excited!! Even though i haven’t started my program yet i have been on previous study abroad’s. So far EF has been so helpful in preparing me and helping me with accommodations. I think i will be able to learn a lot from EF and i hope to go back with EF for a gap year when i graduate highschool. My EF counselors have also helped me because i am planned to go to Paris and Singapore.

If I could give a zero I would.

EF sucks. Me and my friend went to south Korea with EF from Sweden. We didn't get any help from them and had to pay them a lot of money and didn't get what we paid for.

Me and my friend had to drive like 7h to get to the Korean embassy to get our student visa. EF told us to go there and when we did they told us that Korea's borders where closed and we had to go back home, later we had to take the same trip again when EF told us to, and we were declined from the embassy again, and EF was just like "oh we didn't know, they didn't tell us".

Also when we got the information about the trip, before going, EF told us that a trip to Japan was included in the price. When we got to Korea, some of our Swedish classmates had also heard the same thing, while others hadn’t. We never got a trip to Japan, we did find out that some of our classmates went on a trip to Thailand and we didn’t hear anything about it until they were already there. We didn’t get any money back.

They suck at giving information, we never knew anything that was going on, and then they just expected us to know. We had a group chat of people from all over Sweden, also going to Korea with us, and everyone was disappointed with the service and everyone received different information.

When we got to Korea, the staff that picked us up was confused and drove me to another place, even though me and my friend booked the quarantine in the same building. I got a small room and had to contact EF to get the room I paid for and I had to take my suitcases and walk back to the other building.

After the quarantine we lived with a host family, and when we were indecisive about living there or getting an apartment on our own, because we never ate at the host family, so we didn't want to pay for food we didn't eat. We asked EF what we paid to live there, if they could send us the receipt divided of what we pay for food and housing, so we could compare the prices and also if we could remove the price for the food so our host mom won't cook for us, and they answered that they didn't have the documents of that and that everything is included in the full price, so there was no way for us to know what we pay for, and they also said they couldn't deduct any money.
They were also really bad at paying the host families.

When there was 2 months left of our education, EF told us "they had too many student", so there was no classrooms for us, we had to have classes outside and the only thing we did was walk around and take pictures of signs and that was it.

This is not even half of the problems, I could go on and on.
I was so mad and disappointed ALL the time!!!!

Aside from EF, Korea was so beautiful and fun, I really wanna go back!!!
If you love photographing like me, it's amazing!!
Also if you want info or anything, you can contact me on my instagram: thefarawayadventures , I'll gladly help! :)

I spent 6 weeks in Seoul and it was an amazing experience! The pace can be fast in the learning environment but the staff are always so willing to help and can make it fun. I was able to experience things that I would have never thought of doing abroad through the activities they offer, like SUP on the Han river and roasting traditional herbal tea, and if you ever need help, the staff will guide you on where and how to get somewhere at any hour, my second night there I got lost in Seoul and was able to message one of the staff members and they were a big help. I’ve made life long friends from the program and I would recommend for a solo traveler.

I love the atmosphere and that there are so many wonderful people to meet and connect with. All the teachers go above and beyond to help those who don’t understand and the staff make the campus as warming as possible. I love living in a host family where I can practice my french more and get tips from a native speaker that you wouldn’t learn in a classroom. I’m glad I was able to undergo such a wonderful trip with EF. There are so many opportunities that you can take with this course and I highly recommend that you do the most you can, it doesn’t matter how long you’re staying. Just have the most amount of fun you can!