Tell your Experience

Tajah Umar - Estados Unidos


I had an amazing time in Santiago. I met some pretty amazing people and some pretty not-so-amazing people but the experience was well worth it. i wouldn't take back a second of my time spent there. I've been home for a few days now and it's been pretty hectic being back in school and working nights while moving. After coughing most of the Santiago out of my lungs I realized how little I actually saw while I was in South America meaning I'll have to make my way back down there for sure. I've had little time to sleep but i swear I'll find a day to catch up soon. You guys are all some pretty cool people and i plan to cross paths with at least a few of you again, that would be nice. I just want to thank all of you guys for making my four weeks there so much fun. Susana especially. You're a really great person, keep it up I'll come back and visit when i have dinero y cuando yo hablaré espanol. Good luck in whatever you guys are doing have safe travels and such, I have to go to work. Talk soon. -Tajah

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Ingo Schings, 22 - Holland


"During my lessons we discussed actual topics like the farmer`s strike of last week. It`s fun to discuss and improve my Spanish skills at the sametime. After school nice activities are organised for us. This week I`ve been to a spectacular soccer match of Boca Juniors ind the "Bombonera" Stadium. I`ve also prepared a typical Argentine dish called "empanadas" and of course I have been going out with my fellow students. I do recomend study spanish in Buenos Aires in ECELA to everyone who wants to learn spanish and more of Argentinian culture; It`s amazing!!!!!!!!"

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Brett Bold -


My confession... I chose ECELA solely based on a recommendation and after 6 weeks all my expectations were not only met, but blown away. I arrived in Santiago with no previous Spanish education and today I can navigate around a city of 6 million people, ask for and give directions, read a menu and order, tell taxi's where I live how to get there, and (most important) flirt with Chilena's in their own "Tongue"!!!! One of the most comforting things about the school is the employees. From the teachers to the activity coordinator to the maids, everyone is extremely helpful and friendly. I wanted to travel to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to attend Carnaval and Astrid, the schools student coordinator, helped me plan everything from transportation to accommodations. She is one of the most genuine persons I have ever encountered and acts as everyones mom, sister, teacher and best friend. Almost everyday the school offers a cultural experience in the city whether it be a tour a new neighborhood or a salsa, wine or Chilean history class. Every Friday the school hosts an amazing party for departing students that consists of Carlos's Primo BBQ, cerveza and great memories. Almost every weekend I have traveled all around Chile to surf every major beach in Chile including Pichilemu, Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, La Serena, Iquique and Arica. I also went to the driest place on the earth, "San Pedro de Atacama," where I saw geyser's, salt flats, moon valley, huge lagoon's with flamingo's, swam in a salt river and saw miles and miles of desolate terrain. All together my 6 weeks in Santiago have been epic and I couldn't say greater things about the school and experience in Chile. Please feel free to ask me mas preguntas. Brettbold@gmail.com

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Roderick Panchaud - Suiza


Liebe ECELA, herzliche Astrid, Dass ich nach der Matura fuer eine bestimmte Zeit nach Lateinamerika gehen wuerde, war fuer mich schon seit langen klar. Sehr reizte es mich, mein Spanisch zu verbessern und wo kann man dies besser als auf dem lateinamerikanischen Kontinent? So entschied ich mich, als Start meiner Reise eine Sprachschule zu besuchen und begann mich einerseits im Internet nach einer geeigneten Schule zu informieren, anderseits auch das Gespraech mit bereits erfahrenen Suedamerikareisern zu suchen, die mir wertvolle Tipps geben konnten. Aufgrund der vielen positiven Rueckmeldungen waehlte ich schlussendlich die ECELA, was sich im Nachhinein als sehr gute Wahl herausstellte. Trotz des intensiven Spanischkurses am Morgen, bei welchem nach jeweils zwei Wochen ein Test fuer den Eintritt ins naechste Level abgelegt werden muss, bleibt genuegend Zeit uebrig, sich diversen anderen Aktivitaeten zu widmen. Ich schaetzte zudem besonders, dass die Mitarbeiter der ECELA sich nicht nur in der Schule, sondern auch in ihrer Freizeit Zeit nahmen, denn Studenten die chilenische Lebensart zu zeigen. Die Einladung eines Mitarbeiters in sein Kindheitshaus auf dem Lande freute mich daher besonders. Als Wohngelegenheit kann ich das Studentenheim sehr empfehlen, da man dort den Alltag mit verschiedenen Menschen aus diversen Kulturen verbringt. Dabei muss man jedoch bedenken, dass das Spanisch etwas zu kurz kommen kann und bei einer Gastfamilie sicherlich mehr Spanisch gesprochen wird. Nach dem einmonatigen Kurs in Santiago reiste ich fuer fuenf Wochen in den Sueden ins wunderschoene Patagonien, welches ich an dieser Stelle ebenfalls nur weiterempfehlen kann und kehrte dann fuer einige Tage nach Santiago zurueck. Ohne Probleme konnte ich wieder im Studentenheim wohnen und der Kontakt zu den ECELA-Leuten war auch gleich wieder hergestellt. Nun geht es fuer mich weiter nach Buenos Aires, wo ich erneut einen Spanischkurs besuchen werde.

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Michael Krawitz - USA


I definitely recommend spending time at ECELA (Latin Immersion) in Peru. As a general matter, Peruvians speak good Spanish, so it’s a good place to learn. In addition, the school in Miraflores is very good. The teachers and staff are not only good at their jobs, they are also genuinely nice (and fun) people – I consider my teacher, the director and the activities director friends now (and I think everyone in the school had a similar experience). I spent time at ECELA in Santiago, Buenos Aires and Lima, and I am very glad I did the Lima portion. Obviously, each place is different culturally. In many ways Lima is the furthest culturally from the U.S., so that made it a little extra interesting and rewarding. If you need to be in a gigantic city, I’d say skip Peru and go to Buenos Aires. Otherwise, I think you’ll have a great education and experience by spending at least a portion of your time in Peru.

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Colette Bourgonje - Holanda


My wish before i start my own company was traveling and learn spanish at South America for 6 months. I started for 3 months at Venezuela, than 1 month at Argentina and 6,5 weeks to Chile. My time at Argentina for Ecela was fantastic. The school at Buenos Aires is nice and really clean. I took private classes, because i want to speak good spanish. The teachers are friendly and explaning good the spanish lenguage. So my spanish was getting better. During the breaks you meet a lot of nice people. So we did a lot of nice things after school. Also the school is fantastic with organizing things, like tango lessons, cooking empanadas, dancing at a bar or disco, etc. For me personally is this verry nice. I love to dance. Buenos Aires is a place with many neighborhoods, so much to see there at Recoleta, Palermo, Boca, etc. Don’t forget to eat meat at a real Argentina Restaurant. I love this city, i have still contacts with my friends that i meet there. After 1 month i traveled alone with the bus to Mendoza and than through The Andes to Santiago The Chile. A nice experience! There is a fantastic road through the mountains. I loved this trip and it was save. Fantastic view. I took at the Ecela school at Santiago private spanish clases again. For 2 weeks. The teachers are here friendly too! I learned a lot of spanish. Carlos, the activity coördinator is always organizing many things for us after our spanish classes, for the afternoons and the evenings. You can choose witch kind of activity you like and write your name on the blackboard of the activitys. He is the right person for this function. He is doing that so good!!! Paz is doing a lot of things at the weekends together with Carlos. That’s a good team. Activitys like city tour, salsa lessons, going out at a bar at Bellavista, hiking, playing pool, rafting, wine tasting, etc. Gracias mis amigos! I loved this activitys! After my 2 weeks i did my voluntairy work at Teleton. Working with children that have phisically and mentally disabled problems. I worked at “the Arte” department, helping with painting, colouring and working with “papel maché” , etc. It was a great time, the month December with the Christmas Fear. We maked a lot of fun everyday with the children and their parents. The parents are supporting their children, but if there is a problem with the child they can give direcly attention to the situation. My colleages where fantastic and friendly. It feels like that i was welcome to one big family. The weekend for christmas we did something for the children and their parents. We song many spanish christmas songs and i had to sing a dutch song, because my manager asked that to me. That was so nice to do. I had to explain the song in spanish, thats hard, but i tryed. Also the santa claus came in to the Arte department. All the children where happy. Every day they have therapy, learn to walk again, to use the hand again, to live with a wheelchair, etc. Every child is different there, if you give love you get a lot of love from them back, also from my colleagues. My spanish was getting better there, because you have to speak spanish, nobody can speak english there. I enjoyed my time at Teleton, they where happy that i came to help them. I still have contact with some people from there. If i come back to Chile, than i go back to see all the people again at Teleton and at Ecela! I have a special feeling for Alein, he is sitting at a wheelchair. He is my favourite friend. He is at therapy at Teleton. We still have contact with msn messenger. So, my period at South America was really fantastic. Muchas, muchas, muchas gracias todas las personas de Ecela a Argentina y Chile. Tuve un tiempo bonito alla, un tiempo especial. Nunca olvidaré esta experiencia en mi vida! Hasta luego, besos Colette Bourgonje, Miss Holanda!

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Cameron Kennedy - Escocia


La escuela de Bariloche es más pequeña de la escuela en Santiago. Las actividades tiene similaridades como Santiago: rafting; canopy; y otras que puede hacer en ambos países. Hay otras que son diferentes: hay más clases de bailar, hay más actividades en el aire libre - como treking y visitar los refugios en las montañas es muy interesante. En vez de visitar otras ciudades, como en Santiago (viajes a Viña o La Serena, por ejemplo), hay màs viajes en el àrea local, porque hay muchas lugares para ver en la regiòn. y disfrutar de todo. Las clases son muy buenas en Santiago y en Bariloche. Me gusto Mucho.

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Saskia de Schutter - Holanda


I have in at Ecela for 12 weeks in total. Most of the time I spend in Buenos Aires. I had, like almost everyone, a great time there! Because BA is great city, but also because of the school. A lot of really nice activities are organised, in and outside BA. And if I needed to know anything else, where to go or what to do, there`re always the staff who can help you. It`s also a really easy way to meet a lot of nice people! I also went a week to the school in Bariloche. The school is really diferent there, because it`s much smaller. But the people are also al really nice and there`s a lot of stuff to do in Bariloche aswell. It was a different experience than BA, but also very good! So I think if you go to Ecela there`s a really small chance that you won`t have a good time!

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Danielle Ragan - EEUU


Ecela: no tengo palabras suficientes para describir mi experiencia. Los empleados son BUENA ONDA amables, profesionales, y también aprendí y mejoré mi castellano. Tuve un tiempo mas increíble que jamas imaginaba. En serio. Cariños besos y otras cosas.

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Thomas Kraeger - Germany


Comencé trabajo voluntario porque quería ayudar a las personas, que me ayudaron acostumbrarme a este país. Antes de ese experiencia nunca había trabajado con niños - pero en Teleton todas las personas me acompañaron y me dieron ayuda cuando la necesitaba. Fue una experiencia inolvidable, no solo por ser amigo de los niños, los padres y trabajadores, sino también por conocer los barrios pobres en donde viven y ver la diferencia entre tu vida y la suya.

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