Program Reviews

The program was incredible. St Laurent du Var is very beautiful and has many places close by to visit and explore.
My host was just amazing, so sweet and caring and we have kept in touch since my return. I made great new friends on the trip from all over and we still write each other too. My French improved a lot as we spoke pretty much only French the entire trip.my we did a lot of exploring, it is one of the prettiest parts of France and I really feel like I got a good flavor of what French life is like. The daily activities were so fun - including cheese tasting, kayaking, snorkeling, visiting museums, train rides to special beaches and a karaoke night. The whole program was extremely well organized, I felt very safe the entire trip. I would love the opportunity to do more :)

I had the most amazing time on my Abbey Road trip to Barcelona. I enjoyed spending time with my friends while exploring the city of Barcelona and learning the Spanish Language. I loved how we got free time, because it allowed us to participate in activities that were interesting to us. Some of the highlights from the trip include: a Spanish cooking class, the Sagrada Familia, weekend day trips to beautiful beach towns, Parc Guell, Shopping in El Born (many great boutiques and local shops) and visiting many local markets. The Spanish classes were informative and interesting. I loved how there was a mix between sitting in the classroom and also going out onto the streets to further our studies by talking to locals. I highly recommend this trip, the staff were fun but also safe and made so many new friends!!!

My daughter had a fantastic time with the Abbey Road high school summer study program in Florence. She did the three-week option with a focus on Italian Language and an Art History elective.

Her favorite thing about the academic side of the program was the experiential nature of the classes--learning spoken Italian by ordering in cafes and art history by seeing the art and architecture in person. This was her first exposure to Italian language, and she is now taking an Italian course for high school credit to continue the learning process.

Outside of class, she particularly enjoyed exploring the city independently (students are required to have a friend with them in order to do this), and having the freedom to wander through shops (Santa Maria Novella, the world's oldest pharmacy, was a favorite) and take in the gorgeous scenes of Florence at her leisure. She is now eager to pursue study abroad in Florence during college. She also loved the excursions, which took them to locations like Cinque Terra, Lucca, Siena, and San Gimignano.

The other kids in the program seemed great. My daughter was also fond of almost all the staff members, and my communication with them regarding her lost luggage and alternate departure flight was very friendly, easy, and accessible. The apartments the students stayed in were centrally located and spacious. At one point, the AC in my daughter's apartment failed, but Abbey Road staff worked hard to ensure it was repaired and allowed her to stay in another apartment in the meantime.

I think this type of program is a great experience for a teenager in terms of giving them practice exercising independence and self-sufficiency before they venture out into the world. In addition, while it is a learning experience, it is also fun-filled and relaxed, so for my daughter it actually served as a bit of a respite from the pressures of everyday high school life. Would absolutely recommend.

My daughter (15) attended the Abbey Road Nice program in July 2019 and had an amazing experience. It was her first trip to Europe and this was certainly a memorable time. We were very pleased with the program's communication, organization, and program offerings from language instruction to numerous fields trips. I will note, not so much a criticism as simply for others to be aware, that the program does offer a fair amount of free "exploration" time without supervision. My 15 year old certainly gained independence and confidence, though at times I felt she may have been a little too free. The language program seems solid and appropriate, but it is no so strict as in forced total immersion with penalties for speaking english.

We were very pleased with the program. I felt it was great value for what was offered.

In addition to the facilitated instruction, we had many opportunities to interact in the local setting in Nice to talk with shopkeepers, locals, etc. This was my favorite part of the program. Having my own room with own bathroom was very nice also, and staff were all very responsive and helpful. We spent many evenings at the beach, and there were opportunities for water sports, cultural tours and photography and writing electives.

The office staff was very helpful and responsive in making all the arrangements, it felt like they knew me personally. The electives (included in the cost) allow the kids to pick what suits them best. I think most students picked watersports, but a number also did photography, drawing and I picked culture. We got to go to a perfume factory in Monaco, some museums and the theatre in Cannes. I think this allowed us to spend more time doing what we actually had interest in.

My 16 year old daughter had a very good time socially with her peers —this was the “growing edge” for her on this trip— and she enjoyed the outings and teaching of the guides, history being her favorite subject. However, a serious regret was missing both the tour of Versailles Palace and the Gardens of Versailles, due to poor leadership/management with the Versailles tickets and incorrect timing of entry with lunch. Also the whole group completely missed the train to Cologne the next day and had to sit on the ground in the Paris train station waiting for the next train— five hours!—and so miss a half day of touring in Cologne—. These were significant disappointments ... Also, providing well for vegetarians’ meals should be required. My daughter ate a lot of French fries for dinner.

Overall, this was a wonderful program to learn about French culture, food, and language. I would not recommend it for hardcore language immersion; this experience was highly cultural and social, and language came second to that. A typical day included waking up and eating breakfast in your dorm or going out to a patisserie with friends, morning French classes, and then an afternoon activity such as a museum, the beach, or going to a nearby town. There was hours of free time afforded each day, usually spent in Old Nice or at the beach. The location of the residence was absolutely perfect; it was in the heart of Nice, just a five-minute walk from the historic Old Nice, ten minutes from a shopping mall, fifteen from the train station, and only one minute to find a pharmacy or multitudes of cafes and eateries to choose from. The residence itself is technically a youth hostel, but each student gets their own room with plenty of space for themselves and their belongings, along with a private bathroom. Some of the rooms were more dated than others, and some were found in cleaner states than others at the time of arrival, but the overall rooms were nice and functional, if not "beautiful". Naturally, since it is Europe, there is no A/C. However, the program is thoughtful enough to appoint each student with a fan, and the mini-fridge in each room has an ice tray. After a few summer days, even as someone from the Northeast United States, the heat becomes manageable. The best part of this program is the weekend excursions to nearby places such as the medieval village St. Paul-de-Vence, or Antibes. Once there, students are given the freedom to roam. As far as food goes, there is a mixture. Breakfast foods were always available in a room down the hall in the residence, but the pickings were slim: one kind of breakfast bar, some fruits, and a cereal or two. The better option was always to get up early with some friends and visit a patisserie/bakery and make it back to the residence by 9:00am, just in time for classes to begin. Lunches were either provided at the residence or students were given 10 euros apiece to go out and get whatever kind of lunch they pleased in Nice. (10 euros never completely covered the cost, but it helped). The food provided at the residence was usually good, but by no means exceptional on a regular basis; however, it is hard to feed a large group of students with varying taste buds. Vegetarian options were always present. Dinner was the same as lunch, either provided or stipends. Additionally, UberEats at the student's expense was always an option for the tired student who didn't fancy the choices provided by the program in the residence hall. Discussing food does bring us to the topic of beverages. If the student chose to do so, acquiring and drinking alcohol was incredibly easy to do on this trip. The legal drinking age is 18, so you didn't have to look terribly old to be served or to purchase alcohol in Nice, and carding was uncommon at best, especially if you knew the right places to look. Hiding drinking habits from the adult supervisors was very simple for those who chose to indulge, and it wasn't really the fault of the adults when it did happen. There wasn't much to be done to prevent it, being that each student was essentially living by themselves, and often going to restaurants in groups of friends. Curfew, however, was strictly enforced with a face-to-face check-in being nonnegotiable, and sneaking out at night was made nearly impossible by the fact that a security guard polices the residence and knows the faces of the students in the program. I never felt unsafe in the residence (or in the city of Nice in general), and many students even took the liberty to hardly ever lock their apartment doors; theft was never an issue, although there were just regular youth also living on other floors of the hostel at the same time. The trip was really what you made it. There is lots of free time to do whatever makes you happiest and explore the city to your heart's content. It is such a beautiful place with a rich history to live and learn, and you must try as much gelato as possible (Fenocchio's in Place Rossetti is my personal favorite)!

I came into this program very unsure of whether I would like the experience or not, but within the first several days I was having the most fun I had in my entire life! This trip has been over the top amazing in all perspectives. I personally am not a fan of learning, as most teens, but Abbey Road truly made it enjoyable for everyone. To add on, the freedom given was so relieving, and the friends I made there will continue to be for the rest of my life. We also got to do so many fun activities, like parasailing, and tubing. The best part of the trip was being able to go explore the city with friends without having an instructor watching over you, because it truly gave me a higher sense of responsibility and freedom. I couldn’t have possibly asked for a better way to spend my summer.

I learned so much on my trip to Florence with Abbey Road! This was not my first year abroad. I spent July 2018 in a home stay in Salamanca, Spain, which was incredible. However, apartment living in Florence really helped me gain a sense of independence. Living in an apartment comes with a need for responsibility, which is an important skill to foster especially before college. We had to do our own dishes, take out our trash, and maintain our rooms, and I definitely feel more confidence in my self sufficiency. Although it may be daunting, I highly encourage prospective students to recognize the importance of the values of responsibility and independence, and how they will help you in the future. Don’t think for a second that you will be fending entirely for yourself in a foreign city, though. The Abbey Road staff was incredible and supportive, and we always knew that they would provide us with pretty much everything we needed to be happy and comfortable. I think that this combination of trust in their students and general reliability is what sets Abbey Road Florence apart, and why I so eagerly recommend it. You’ll definitely feel independent, but never on your own. You’ll learn so much about how to live abroad, and about the rewards and challenges that come with it. It’ll be hard sometimes, but I cannot stress enough the importance of learning to face adversity for the sake of opening your mind. Travel to Florence with Abbey Road, and I can basically guarantee that your perspective will broaden and grow, all for the better.

I loved this program so much. My residency was a beautiful apartment right in the heart of Florence. I got to experience life with roommates (some of my now best friends) and enjoy becoming a local in the city. There was a great balance between structure and freedom which allowed for me to really get to know the area on my own but have the safety and organization of the program. I studied art history and Italian and I found both incredible. Art history was my main class, so I got to learn it every day. My instructor was extremely qualified, prepared, and professional, and even finished her dissertation in Art History at Cambridge. I learned so much and got to see so many unique sites. I also enjoyed Italian as my minor class. Even though I only took the class 3 times a week, I went from someone who knew no Italian, to being able to form basic sentences and preform everyday conversation such as greetings and ordering in a restaurant!