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Ellen (Sophie’s mom), June 2025

TY Student

I heard about Transition Spain through my sister, as my nephew had attended the immersion course in Granada in both 2023 and 2024.

Both of them were extremely enthusiastic about the company: the quality of care provided by the host families, the attention paid to the individual students to ensure their interests were catered for, and finally, the excellent communication between the Irish parents and the TS staff.

I had great communication throughout the booking and payment process. Whilst there was a slight hiccup due to the travel company (for booking flights) going into administration in December, this was overcome through communication by Sergio as to which flights to book.

Whilst I am used to my daughter spending extended time abroad with family —and indeed she had already taken part in a school exchange in Madrid earlier this year— this was a whole new experience, given that most of the students and staff would be unknown to her and to us. We had confidence that all would go fine, though of course this doesn’t mean that both parents and child are not nervous about new experiences!

TS do an excellent job in helping ensure that all will go smoothly (and anxieties are minimised), through doing their best to ensure a good match between students and host families. They take account of the students’ likes and dislikes through both the bio filled out ahead of time, as well as the Zoom interview that took place in the springtime before the June trip.

This is cemented by providing information on the host family ahead of time and encouraging WhatsApp contact with the host parents in the week beforehand. This makes sure you are personally able to contact and discuss likes and dislikes, sharing the house with a friend or not, and generally getting a feeling for the family you are entrusting the care of your child with. A really nice touch.

During the programme itself, I was bowled over by the daily updates and photos provided by the team on the activities that the students were engaging in. A really lovely touch that I wasn’t expecting.

Also, the check-in during the first week to make sure that any issues or concerns that the student may have had (with the programme or the family) but not communicated locally in Spain, yet again reinforced the care that TS took to make sure that each student had the best possible experience.

Sophie enjoyed learning Spanish in the school, in an atmosphere that was more relaxed than regular school – and definitely appreciated this! She feels she benefited from the daily language classes and will start back to school all the better for this.

She also really loved the great diversity of after-school activities: from the aquarium, to kayaking, and the visit to the planetarium. When asked about these specifically, her first response was how she appreciated the help from the A Coruña Coordinator on the day of kayaking, when herself and her friend were late to the activity as they had lost track of time! They expected to get into trouble and/or not be able to partake, but this was not the case and they were still able to enjoy the activity <3.

The Viera family, with whom she stayed, were lovely, and she is full of praise for them. Sophie enjoyed playing board games with them and watching TV in the evening, but also being able to feel free to spend time by herself in her room to read and listen to music. It seemed like a very thoughtful match.

Though Sophie had travelled before, this was her first unaccompanied flight, but all went smoothly, and the logistics of meeting at either end (on the outward and homeward journeys) were all great – again made easier for us as parents with the WhatsApp notifications that children had been safely met/dispatched!

After her 2025 trip to A Coruña, Sophie herself is really enthusiastic about the programme and hoping to return to Spain next year —though maybe this time to Granada.

A big thanks to all in the TS team, but most particularly to Sergio. From start to finish, he has been an excellent ambassador for the company and always on hand to answer any question that is needed.

Here’s hoping the relationship continues into next year!