"I originally planned to visit Israel through an archaeological dig with my school, but the dig got called off when the other students realized they were too damn sissy to hit the sand. In retrospect, I'm very happy things turned out this way. Although I joined "GoEco as a different way of entering Israel, it had a number of benefit I had not previously considered. Whereas the archaeological dig would have been composed largely of students from my Alma Mater, the GoEco participants were taken from a variety of places around the world. The pleasant 2:1 ratio of men to women should also be noted.
Thus, I spent the majority of my time in Israel flirting with international girls, in between helping the environment and seeing fantastic historic or religious sites. Although aspects of our ecological initiatives could be taxing (I am not a hot weather person) the payoff in experience more than outweighed any discomfort. I got to look down at the heart-shaped face of an owl I was holding as it received a tracking ring. I woke up at dawn to release endangered baby sea turtles on a beach, with an ancient Crusader fortress behind us. When not directly involved with the environment, I made good friends and visited fantastic places like Nazareth, Akko, and Jerusalem with them.
An excellent project. I dare say, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I recommend anyone who wants to help the environment, see Israel from a different perspective, or become a general badass join GoEco for next summer. Shalom."

"All in all, my experience this year has been amazing. Volunteering at the zoo has enabled me to come into contact with so many different animals, many of which I am fascinated by. Additionally my observations of the zoo as a neutral place where all Jerusalemites can come and visit has made me feel proud to have worked in such an environment where discrimination is non-existent."

"Waking up in the morning and realizing that you were going to be working with animals is one of the best and exciting feelings that I got from this project. The people I got to work with were fascinating and so passionate (and crazy) and were really inspiring. People who really care about the welfare of their animals have left me with a great sense of hope and encouragement with my goals to change and fix what is wrong with our environment."

"I'm glad we went to places that we wouldn't go had we been on taglit or a different organized trip.100 gates and the Arab quarters was truly a great cultural experience. I wish we had more."

I was placed in a Kathmandu orphanage with children ranging from six years old up to twelve years old. Although my stay was very short in Nepal I was completely accepted as part of the family. The children are supremely bright and receptive. It came to my attention that they had only been introduced to English 10 months earlier, which was shocking because of their comfort and ability with the language. I will miss their melodious singing, spelling out every word and everything that passed us by on our walks... “L-O-V-E, love.” Never have I known children that are so interested in learning and reading.

The training program is very good (ramro chha) even if your length of stay is short. The organization is centered around hands on training. If you are not comfortable with something, they will make the necessary changes, and that is something worth praising.

This was my first time traveling outside of America to volunteer and I think that I was very lucky with my experience and placement. I was shown the truly beautiful side of Nepalese culture and geography while helping just a little bit. I feel more confident in traveling to other countries and in bringing my family back to Nepal for trekking and rafting in the future.

"We can not resume our experience at the Iguana Station it in only one word, it was really a very unique experience and we loved it. We think that the volunteering in this center is not necessarily for persons that love reptiles, volunteers can also incorporate in different activities like environmental, social or educating the habitats of the island to protect an endemic reptile like the Ctenosaura bakeri, also collaborating in administration projects. In our case happened both cases because one of us loves reptiles and wanted to learn a lot more of them and the other one loves reptiles but not in the same way because it is not her field then she focused more in the environmental and social part without discarding the idea of learning more of the biology of Iguanas.

In our stay at the station we were able to learn how they manage all the activities and that was able with the help of the director, co-directors and the other volunteers even when we didn't have the same culture and we haven't spoken the same language but we share the same knowledge since most of us study biology or a similar career."