Do you have what it takes to be a good volunteer?

Why Volunteer? Why should you care about what the world needs? Because you, like me, are a human and our special role as humans gives us the ability to connect and empathize. By connecting with someone else who is struggling we help ourselves and how we can help best is by enhancing these qualities in the amount and way that each of us excels. So in the words of Marianne Williamson, “It’s not just what we do,…

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Why pay for a volunteer program abroad?

Volunteer Program Abroad

by Jill Arcaro Some people manage to find their own volunteer placements independently, but this can take ages to get organized and sometimes, it is not always safe. As a result, not all travelers have that great lifetime experience they had hoped for. Many participants express that the concept of paying for a volunteer post is strange at first. With this in mind we have listed some reasons below why you should pay for a volunteer program…

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Cultural Adaptation is up to YOU

Cultural Adaptation

by Jill Arcaro Gordon After the initial elation of novelty when transported into a foreign culture, the shock and frustrations of having to adapt culturally can be overwhelming. I myself have experienced them all and continue to suffer from the habit of comparing, both favorably and not, after more than 10 years in Europe. Would I think of moving? Not for a minute. But I really could have used the experiences of someone in the know! So,…

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Practicalities and Idiosyncrasies of Life in Madrid

by Jill Arcaro-Gordon from Best Programs Time to get used to the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of your new home away from home. When you come to live in Madrid, the burden of cultural adjustment will be upon YOU, and there will be significant changes to which you will have to adjust. Spain is a western country with attitudes, habits, and a standard of living that is broadly speaking the same as in Britain and the…

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Intern in Europe: Why and How

by Jill Arcaro Intern in Europe: Why?… An international internship can be the most important point in your resume and lead to discovery and deepening of both personal and career relations. Academic courses are a good basis, but internships abroad are a better investment for life-long value based on experience, not words. Students who have to adapt to business and cultural practices in another country tend to quickly develop the qualities of problem solving and high levels…

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Yes! You Can Live and Work in Madrid and Here’s How

work in madrid

You can live and work in Madrid! See here our Internship in Spain program! Live the experience! Jill Arcaro Gordon You can study and work in Madrid! “Sunny Spain”…things were never brighter. Fabulous food and wines… soccer…flamenco, passion… no friendlier people, generosity…time-honored traditions. A country where pleasures can be as profound as the works of Cervantes or as simple and sweet as a cup of coffee. Spain has an awesome amount to offer foreigners, whether students, travelers…

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Steps to Adapting to Working and Living Abroad – Part 2

By Jill Arcaro Gordon What are you doing to achieve your dream? How can you make it happen? By actively embracing your goals with calm clarity, you can create a new standard which will give you different, and better results, in every aspect of your life. Working and Living Abroad Below are two more (of many), helpful tips you can adopt to strengthen your clarity and use that state to develop greater personal fulfillment abroad. If you…

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Steps to Adapting to Working and Living Abroad – Part 1

By Jill Arcaro Gordon When I worked in the registrar’s office of Boston University during my studies there and I cried every day. I did not know my professional or personal goals at the time and if I had I would not have known how to achieve them. I just knew I felt stifled, bored and on a dead-end road. Today I have come to realize that I was actually in the right industry (education) but in…

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The Way of Son and the “Septeto Santiaguero”

(Ver más abajo versión en español) Musicologists dilute the origin of Cuban musical genre, son, by attributing its appearance throughout the entire eastern part of the island.  There are even those who contend some remote first appearance in the West along with other fallacies such as the final burial place of Micaela Gines, Pascual de Ochoa and other freed slaves that according to the author, Alejo Carpentier, composed the Son of Mateodora, erroneously considered the first son…

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