Spain

I paid for Geovisions' Tutor a Host Family Abroad - Spain program. They failed to find a host family for tutoring and instead matched me with a family that needed an au pair. There were so many red flags during the host interview - from the family telling me I would need to attend mass and pray with them (I'm not Catholic) to them trying to dictate how I dress and what I eat (they wouldn't accommodate my dietary restrictions even though they're supposed to). I expressed my concerns with Geovisions and refused the match for obvious reasons. I tried to be flexible as they stressed I needed to be to find a match, but after over 6 months of no match I finally left the program and requested a refund since I paid over 1000 USD. Geovisions refused to refund me the very expensive fee I paid because I turned down a family with no regard to my personal safety. Everyone from the coordinator to the cofounder stated that since I refused a match they would be keeping my money. An organization that can't own up to its mistakes and doesn't value participants' safety is not one that I would trust with my life while living abroad. I won't be applying to them ever again.

SOL is such a great program because of how well organized and genuine the people who work here are. It´s obvious it takes a village but they work so well together that they make the experiences and activites so semlessly authentic.

If you´re looking to get the best out of your money I can assure you SOL is the program you will keep coming back to. With the various activities and resources included, I couldn´t say no.

Studying Abroad so far away from home is one of the scariest transitions you have to make but SOL really makes sure you are safe and aware of any and all safety precautions whilst in a different country.

SOL Education Abroad is a great immersion program for students who are serious about learning Spanish. The staff and directors are there to help you, and are always up to suggest a fun cultural activity or event happening in the city if you don´t already have plans. (They sometimes even go to them with you!) In summary, SOL specializes in finding authentic spanish linguistic and cultural experiences, and making them accessible to students.
Price was a huge factor for me when I started comparing study abroad programs, and at the end, I chose SOL because it has so much included for its price (which does seem daunting) and because of it´s focus on language learning and immersion. As a college student extremely worried about the debt I have already accumulated, I do not regret my decision in choosing SOL.

SOL was a great choice for my semester abroad. It was highly recommended by my professors and past students who also studied through SOL. When I first saw the price I was nervous but after looking at everything included and comparing it to other programs I realized it wasn´t as bad as I initially thought. The staff before my departure was very nice and helped with any questions regarding paperwork or the process of anything. I would recommend talking to them before your own university office because they are very helpful and know exact details that pertain to their own programs. While being here they have been a great balance of hands on and hands off, offerring support and help when asked but do not suffocate you or constantly looking over your shoulder. I loved the homestay option and it is the part that I have been the most grateful for because they offer a little comfort and also oppurtunities to see culture first hand through their lives and their cooking and SPEAK the Spanish that you are there to speak. I am very happy with my experience with SOL and my semester and would highly recommend any and everyone to study abroad through this program.

Sol Education Abroad is a wonderful study abroad program. I studied abroad for a semester in Granada, Spain and enjoyed every moment of it. Spain is a fantastic country with all of the history and different cultures that it contains, but that is not the only factor that made my study abroad experience as great as it was. All of the Sol staff members are kind and will help you in any way that you need. The excursions that are included in the program are both informative and interactive so that everyone can enjoy the experiences. I learned so much about spanish culture and the spanish language because Sol choses the best families for you to live with while abroad. My host family included me and taught me so much. They encouraged me and helped me with the language when needed. If anyone is considering studying abroad, I suggest that you do. You will learn so much and will have the time of your life.

I really enjoyed staying in Granada, Spain. I learned a lot of Spanish, felt like my host family was fantastic, and loved my program directors. It was a very positive experience that allowed me to foster independence and confidence in my language skills and abilities to travel.
Granada is a good city to study abroad in, as it isn´t huge and there is a center just for language studies. Spain is also very close to a lot of cool countries that I was able to visit on our ample breaks.
I do recommend this program to anyone who would like a great price for studying in Spain.

I highly recommend you study abroad with SOL Education. I feel like the program is awesome. A semester for coming to Spain I had to make a decision on what program I want to use to do study abroad. I had many options but SOL stuck out to me. When I first called SOL, they answered very nice and sounded willing to help. After a few calls to them they knew me by name and would answer every question I had. At one point I did not know which term I wanted to do, so they would send me emails of what they thought would be best for me. They would send me what the courses would be and how they could be transfered back to my school. That made me realize that I wanted to go with them. From when I first called them and from when I finally applied, the cost for going for the time period I wanted had went up. They had told me since I talked to them before the price was changed they were going to leave it at the price that I first saw since I called before. I probally called the SOL office over 50 times, everytime I called they were so nice and had answers. I did not know what I was getting myself into as in who I was going to live with or anything, luckily Stephanie, who works with SOL, talked to about my options and she really helped me decide where to live. I stayed with a host family, really glad I did. The family was awesome, the host mom always asked how I was doing how my trips went and etc. The directors that you`ll have when you get to Spain are very awesome, they will help you with anything you need, their office is close to the school and they are just an email away. If you pick this program you are not going to regret it.

SOL Education Abroad is an amazing program. I studied abroad in Granada, Spain through SOL and loved it! The price looks fairly steep when you first look at it, but when you read more that includes your homestay, food, cleaning, all of the excursions you go on, and the courses you choose to take over at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas part of the University of Granada (Córdoba, Sevilla, the Alhambra, etc). I was fairly apprehensive about the cost at first, but it is totally worth it.

I have loved every minute over here! Of course you take classes and get homework, but your professors understand that you are here to travel as well as study the language. My time here has felt more like a vacation than an actual academic semester.

Another thing I would like to add is use Spanish as much as possible. That it the only way you get to learn the language on a deeper level. Yes, you learn it in the classroom and with your host family, but go out, get to know the locals, go to intercambios. Get to know the city you will be living in for the next 3-5 months; you won't regret it.

I found this week in terms of volunteering just a waste of time.
It was rather a cheap and not fun student holidays in a poorly maintened house. You will have a lot of free time and that house is far from everything. If you don't get a car, you will feel up your time with commuting by public transport.
We did very little of voluntering activities and the way everything was orginized was very strange if you think that you will be spending a week of your time to help a good change to happen. In principle out of 7 days: 2 are free, 1 is instructions and safety, and 4 are those lazy activity days.
Probably the most useful activity was beach cleaning. But very dumb as we were not allowed to talk to people unless they approach. We had t-shirts saying "Frontier", that says nothing to people, so it makes no sense to just clean a beach for 1 hour (the only activity for that day), tomorrow there will be more trash out there. But at least something happend: for that evening the beach was cleaner than before.
Next day we counted ships that were not behaving according to the rules. Just counted, didn't make pictures, didn't collect any prove that could be used later in order to talk to the government and force all ships to respect the rules. We were counting them for 1.5 hour with 17 people on top of the mounting. Do you need 17 people to count? No. Would that make more sense to make smaller groups and count for the day? Yes, but that is more difficult for the orginizers. So we counted them in turns, wrote down the numbers and then we were free again. One more increadible "volunteering" day was over.
The star activity of the program is to travel with tourist boats to picture dolphins. If you are lucky to get a place. Many times if the boat is full you will spontaneosly get another free day. Frontier guaranties that you will go on a boat at least once per week. All of us did 1 or 2 boat trips . On some of these boats you will be asked to serve food to tourists (hey plastic packages, bottles and cuttleries) and then help to clean. On the moment when they spot dolphins you are free to take pictures. Those pictures are meant to be used for a catalogue, BUT we had very unclear instruction on how to upload and catogolize those pictures that sooo many mistakes will be there, that it doesnt make sense either. Sad. Many of the participants just didn't do it at all, as it was not clear how to do it.
And so on, I dont want to make a discription of every detail that could be improved and waste more of anyones time, I can not recommend Frontier at all. I actually think that they harm the idea of volunteering, since after participating in such a program you will doubt that this type of "holidays" is something for you.