Program Reviews

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 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.

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! :)

Overall pretty good! Not the best choices with food, not a lot of variety, but other than that, everything was pretty good! Loved being able to actually go out drinking and have fun with friends, the tours were amazing, loved walking around the cities and learning about the history. The hostels we were in were pretty decent, of course theyre hostels so they're not going to be five star, but they got the job done. Great chance to make friends cus you'll be rooming with different people, its all really fun.

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!

I spent two weeks in Munich between late July and early August of 2022. The trip was some of the most fun I've ever had.
I was going into my senior year of high school, so I was able to spend time with both older and younger people. For me, socializing and finding friends was easy and led to some great memories. I think most were very open to meeting new people.
I stayed in a homestay, and I found it to be the perfect set up. It was about a 45 minute train ride —which was perfectly fine. The family was nice and cooked great food. They also let me be and weren't overbearing.
I entered the program as nearly a complete beginner. Language acquisition was more difficult than I expected although I still progressed. The daily school schedule varied from class just in the morning (~8:00-11:00) to class and activities for nearly the entire day. I thought the variation kept things interesting and the right amount of busy without leaving no free time.
Munich is a great city and highly accessible by walking or public transport like trains, trams, and buses. I never had any problem getting around/lost. I would highly recommend the Eisbach in the Englischer Garten; it's an awesome river you can swim in. I would also recommend taking advantage of the trains and going to nearby towns (I went to Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Salzburg). I went to Nuremberg with the EF coordinated trip. The EF trips were nice to make friends, but it was fun to be more independent when I already had a group of friends to go with.
I would definitely recommend the program to anyone interested. I was very hesitant to go right up until the last moment, but I am so glad I did.