High School Abroad in Spain with Greenheart Travel

Many people use Greenheart and have good experiences. Had everything gone smoothly with our child’s host family placement during her high school semester in Spain, that might have been true for us. However, if there is a need to move host families, you might not be able to count on Greenheart. Our daughter had to move due to domestic violence. Greenheart and their in-country partner CCI bungled just about every decision from the moment they were informed of the emergency up until our child’s last day with the program. After moving her to a new family and location, the local coordinator was a particular problem. She was strangely critical with our child and made statements that interfered with her relationship with the new host family. Throughout the ordeal neither Greenheart nor CCI were proactive about ensuring our daughter’s well-being. Many organizations are suffering now with such low participation during the pandemic. But nothing can explain their insensitivity and poor judgment. Greenheart was having staff turnover so perhaps if they get their house back in order they can provide kind, attentive service. I wrote to the Greenheart CEO after our child was safely back in the country and was told that the problem was our daughter’s inability to adapt and make a success of her situation – they accepted no responsibility.

I recently have returned from my exchange in Albacete, Spain, and I could not be happier with with my time abroad! GreenHeart Travel prioritizes the meaningfulness of exchange as one of its core values. One thing that stood out to me during the pre-departure steps was an activity to write out our goals while on the program to ensure we have a meaningful exchange. While searching for study abroad programs, GreenHeart stood out to me as the program that truly cared about your goals and needs. GreenHeart's team matched me with a host family that shares my active lifestyle and it was a perfect fit! My host sisters and I talk everyday now that I am home, and we are hoping to reconnect on one continent or the other soon! I definitely recommend this program for anyone looking to go abroad!

My daughter’s experience with Greenheart has been wonderfully amazing......starting with the application process, all the way to her experience in Spain! To start, we happen to turn in our application very close to the cutoff date, but Greenheart and our wonderful program director worked super hard to get all our paperwork in order and find the perfect family just in time. The outmost care and detail was put in to make sure that our daughter was placed in a home that was not only safe and loving but also the perfect fit. She is absolutely loving her host family, school, culture and is learning so much! I also want to add how I love how Greenheart listens and understands each student as an individual, and therefore attends to their needs as such. We had looked into several other programs and based on my research AND experience Greenheart is #1 !!!! Thank you Hope and thank you Greenheart! ~Nazanin (Los Angeles, Ca)

I would definitely recommend Greenheart to anyone who wants to travel abroad. I would say they have great information and are VERY organized with the study abroad. They have resources before for you and make sure you are as prepared as you can be before the study. They are a great program choice for your study abroad. One thing I remembered I would always get excited about, before my study abroad, was receiving an email from someone from Greenheart travel. (usually, Hope Pavich.) Greenheart would email me a lot and keep me updated with my study abroad. I, also, enjoyed reading the blogs about other peoples experiences. These blogs gave me a view from their life abroad and made me very excited to see how my life would be. These blogs also encouraged me to write my own blog about my adventure. Not only did it update my family and friends back home, my friends and classmates in Spain loved reading it to see how my life had changed and how it was different from my life in the USA. About my time abroad itself, I loved experiencing a new culture, making great friends, and learning a new language. One thing that I would improve would be having the coordinator in Spain speak English. My coordinator was very sweet and helpful but only spoke Spanish. Although I didn't have any problems with my host family or other things that I would have contacted her with, I felt as though if I did need something, because my Spanish is not fluent (although I learned very much from my time abroad) I would have liked her to speak English so she would fully understand the situation and I would fully understand her. Again she was very sweet and I'm sure very helpful but if I would have encountered a problem I would have liked her to speak English. My advice is to have an open mind and to be open to new experiences. Expect things not to always go your way. With a different culture, there are different ways of doing and handling situations. I would add I loved the Green Heart staff, especially Hope Pavich! Hope was always there to help with ALL of my questions and my parents questions before and during my study abroad. My mom and I really enjoyed emailing her (and meeting her before my adventure) and loved her bubbly personality.

I liked Greenheart over any other company because they don't send hundreds of students to one country, the staff and alumni are very talkative, open, and close to you at every point of the experience, and they know the exact region of the country you are going to. Nothing is uncertain with Greenheart. They have every questioned detail planned out. I always felt certain and safe. If you're thinking about studying abroad in Spain, be completely open to learn a new way of life, new things about yourself, and change in every part of your life. It might be challenging or frustrating at times, but at the end you will be amazed at how much this all has shaped you and made you a better, stronger, more confident person. I liked getting to live in a new culture, learn a totally different way of life, and challenge myself by learning a new language the most. It was so eye opening and incredible to see how different life is across the ocean. It made me learn what is important in my life, how I need to change things in my life, and allowed me to know myself even more than before. Thank you for such a life changing, amazing experience Greenheart! It really changed my life by allowing me to learn so many things about myself that I didn't know before. I have a better understanding of the world, who I am, and what I want to do in my life. I plan to apply to travel with you all again!

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I am so thankful to have spent 6 months in Badajoz, Spain. I met so many great people from Spain and the United States. When I first arrived for the orientation I was really nervous, but the orientation staff is extremely welcoming and they help you learn more about the country. After leaving the orientation, I met my host family who helped me so much with my Spanish and they taught me so much about the Spanish culture. They had already had two past exchange students so they were very accommodating. Being in a smaller city was beneficial because not very many people spoke English so even if I wanted to speak it, I would have to try to use my Spanish instead. School was difficult because it was all taught in Spanish, but my classmates took their own time in class to help me understand the assignments. The school work was not that important to me as the grades wouldn't count for my transcript over here, but I tried the best I could. Over my whole trip I managed to do so many different things like try on traditional flamenco dresses at a local shop, ride horses on the beach and even got to visit Portugal! My favorite part of living in Spain was that every Friday I would go out with my classmates and walk the streets and go out to eat. Studying abroad was just as educational as learning in a traditional classroom because just being in a different country had taught me so much.

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My experience could not have been more perfect. The family was perfect and friendly and welcoming and loving and very generous. The full immersion was great, it helped me to learn the language quicker and to experience more of the culture. Being the only American in my city was very fun, everyone was very excited to meet me and always wanted to converse. Going to school was difficult, especially when I couldnt understand but friends, family and teachers are very willing to help. I would not have done the second semester of my junior year any other way.