GeoVisions Foundation

There are a few things I would say to someone who is about to live overseas.

First, I would really try to not have any expectations; it will end up being a beautiful, wonderful experience, so take a deep breath and leap into it. If you do not have any expectations, you can rejoice when anything good happens.

I would also say to pack light, with an open heart and mind.

I would say, immerse yourself as fast as you can into the culture that you go into. Talk to people, ask questions, if the thing to do is have coffee at 11 am and dinner at 9 pm, try to do that - see what it is like! The point is to see life in another country, so the faster you jump into it, the more enriching it will be.

Do not get bogged down when the classic travel problems arise. Flights will cancel, trains will delay, hotels will not be what you thought, something will go wrong - and that is OKAY. Take a deep breath, and know that everyone deals with it; that is part of the fun, to adapt and make a good story out of the problems that arise.

You will grow so much and learn so much about yourself at this time; just get ready for the ride!

I think it depends on what type of host family you are living with and what their schedule is, but for me, a typical day was WONDERFUL.

I would get up around 8am and the mother and daughter were already at school or work, so I did not speak with them and do English lessons until they got home at night. My days varied because of this fact, but most often I would go on a run around the old city walls, come back and make breakfast and get ready for the day.

I would go to an Italian Language School, find new restaurants or museums in my town to go to, or take a train for a day trip somewhere magical! Then, I would get the daughter from her choir or cello lessons, and then we would go have dinner, take walks and I would teach her English in real life scenarios.

My biggest fear was being able to accomplish all of the things I wanted to or be able to have enough time to really understand the culture. There is a balance you have to find when you travel abroad. A balance in how much you travel and how much you settle into the culture you are in, as well as a balance of whether to go to the touristy places or off the beaten path.

I would first make a list of places you really want to see or goals you want to achieve (Google reviews and pictures help a ton to deem if something is important, but make sure to read more than just one or two to get a real idea). It is tiring to be on the go-go-go, so do not burn yourself out trying to go everywhere and see everything, the world is big, try to prioritize on what you REALLY want to do. With that being said, some of those things you want to see will be the big tourist attractions; that is because they really are great! But be aware of when you go for crowds or booking tours in advance. To climb the dome in the Duomo in Florence, book in advance! Hostelworld.com is a great way to find hostels, and of course, airbnb.com is an awesome tool for apartments. Cinque Terre, Venice, Lucca, and Lake Como are truly incredible! I also would look into booking a villa in the hills of Italy. We found a fantastic one in Garfangana that was very cheap with a pool! It was very gorgeous. Also, the beaches in Pietrasanta are wonderful!

With all of that being said, I realized that having the correct mindset for what you want to accomplish is key. I realized that you can not control everything, and you have to be able to go with the flow, and if you have an inkling to do something, there is a reason you have it - follow that!

You will not be able to do EVERYTHING on your list, but to enjoy each day is much more important. Traveling alone to a new country where you do not know the language takes an adjustment, try to get the tears or nerves out of the way as quickly as you can, to treat each day as a gift - it goes fast!

Most people would probably say that skydiving was the scariest, maybe even going to a country to live where you do not know one person or the language; however, for me it was riding a Vespa through Florence.

Vespas are very touchy, FAST machines. You have to be very cognizant and aware, but I also wanted to enjoy the surroundings and not be too tense and nervous that I would miss out on having fun. I had to take a few deep breathes, tell myself I can do it (because I believe, once it is verbalized, it can come true), and bask in the glory of what an incredible experience it would be! A lot of my trip I needed to do those three things, and it helped me grow into the independent woman I want to be, as well as to take each day as it was and get the most out of it all.

Is there a typical volunteer that is drawn to GeoVisions? That's a good question. Our volunteers and teachers are mostly 22-35 years of age. 80% come from the U.S. and the other 20% from the UK, Canada and Australia. 65% are female and that actually is lower than the industry average of 80%. We attract more males, I think, because of the unique projects we have available.

When we talk to people with an interest in volunteering abroad or teaching abroad, we ask a lot of questions. A good volunteer is either going to have a very precise reason for going abroad and a very precise location in mind, or the volunteer will be open to suggestions and countries. You either need to be focused on one type of project in one location or you need to be an open canvas, ready to write or draw your experience as it happens.

GeoVisions engages in Voluntourism. We are not an aid or development organization and we don't pretend to be. The type of programs we provide give a volunteer or teacher plenty of time to experience the local culture and to travel around the country. And then we provide the time to roll up your sleeves and get a lot of experience working in a community, and living with a local family.

The "why do I have to pay to volunteer" is a question we get from time to time. Interestingly, as Voluntourism is now a "mainstream" travel experience, most people know they are going to have to pay. But years ago it was a question we received all the time.

When we open up a new project, we calculate fees based on what it will cost us to support the project properly. We don't want any volunteer to be a burden on the community or a host family. So we build in an insurance policy that covers death, accident, medical and dental. In countries where families need assistance with food for another mouth to feed, we calculate that cost. And almost all projects require a financial arrangement to help offset the cost of a foreign volunteer. The volunteer found out about GeoVisions and the project through the Internet and I don't think anyone understands the enormous cost of marketing programs online. Our annual online marketing fees are more than we pay in any salary to anyone on our staff. And then of course we don't set up a project unless someone from our team goes abroad and fills out a 15-page Risk Management report on the project, the people who work at the project, the community and the host family if we use one.

We maintain a page on our website that explains how we spend volunteer's money and we try to be transparent. Above all, we respect anyone who is going abroad to help others. We respect the time our volunteers are giving and the money they are spending.

I like to think we honor the commitment of our volunteers and teachers by providing solid but very unique experiences. We have a live person answering our phones 24/7 and we care about what our volunteers think and what they are doing. We write to them when they are abroad and check in from time to time with our offices there. We have a big presence on Facebook where volunteers can write anything they want and we also encourage comments on our blog. We don't remove anything that is negative because we know we aren't going to please everyone. But the fact that we are transparent and we do provide many open forums, we know that makes us a better organization each day.

There is a global debate, you know, about whether an organization is for-profit or non-profit. And there is a debate on whether or not voluntourism does more harm than good or if the projects benefit the volunteer more than the local community. We engage in this debate everyday. I comment on at least three blogs each day about these topics.

What GeoVisions is really interested in is what our volunteers and teachers do AFTER the experience. Here we call it the 'Experience after the Experience'. If we do our job in finding sustainable projects that are unique and different from other organizations, and if we do our job in making sure the projects and host families have a sustainable need, and if we do our job in making sure the volunteers and teachers we send are matched appropriately to the projects, then the experience the volunteers have will be positive. What we want to do is encourage our volunteers to be engaged locally when they return. Or volunteer abroad again. We are engaged in research along these lines with Southern Connecticut State University and Voluntourism.org.

We have a very bright future. We do a pretty good job of differentiation in a sea of so many volunteer abroad organizations. If you hear the name Conversation Corps or Conversation Partner, you can equate that with GeoVisions. The Corps represents 65% of our volunteers. Just this week we added Conversation Corps-Nepal and Conversation Partner-Rio.

Thanks for asking these interesting questions. We appreciate your interest in GeoVisions.