Our experience with the Hello-Hola program is one we will never forget. The program not only gave our daughter Meg a chance to experience another culture but the rest of our family as well. This was Meg’s first time away from home and we were all very nervous. The host family she stayed with treated her like one of their own and made her feel right at home. They even had a fourth of July celebration complete with American decorations. Meg considers them her Spanish family and her new friend Ainhoa her sister.
We were able to Skype with Meg every day so she could give us all the details of the things she was doing. There were activities planned for every weekday which kept the group very busy. They toured the city of Valencia, went to a water park, a cathedral, a theme park, the beach, an aquarium, white water rafting among others. Meg’s host family lives in Valencia but while there she also traveled to Barcelona and Madrid. The last two days in Spain all of the children gathered in Madrid for a celebration. Meg made many new friends not only from Spain but from the UK and US as well.
After two weeks, Meg returned home with her new sister. Ainhoa was a little nervous at first, but quickly settled in as part of our family. There were three girls from Spain taking part in the New York activities. They went to the Thousand Islands, Niagara Falls, Watkins Glen, Philadelphia and Camelback Park. On our own we went to the local zoo, the beach, shopping at the mall, the Corning Museum of Glass and took in a baseball game. The weekend they were here all three families hosting guests in New York went to New York City for the weekend. Image may be NSFW.
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July was a busy month and we can’t believe how quickly it passed. There were many tears at the airport, after four weeks together all of the girls here formed a strong bond which we are sure will last a long time. They were happy to be returning home, but yet very sad to be leaving.
Hello-Hola is a fantastic opportunity and we feel very fortunate to have been a part of it. Our daughter Meg has made new friends and will have memories to last a lifetime. We also have a new family in Spain. We have been in contact with our host family from the very beginning and plan to maintain that relationship.
The Hello-Hola program is well planned. There were multi lingual chaperones with the children the entire time they were traveling which helped us feel at ease. We got to know Javier, the chaperone in New York, and he is an outstanding individual. He engaged not only the children but the families as well.
