Youth For Understanding (YFU)

My best advice would be to study the culture you are about to immerse yourself in, and the language as well. There's already a boundary once you arrive and having overcome some of the obstacles beforehand will quicken your chances of establishing a lifelong bond with your host family and their country. Don't forget to be yourself, too!

As a ambassador of my exchange program, I always have to check emails, as we are still in the process of settling into our ambassador roles. We have to go through a lot of training so that we can communicate with potential students who want to go abroad as well.

Concerning my life as an exchange student, I had to adjust to my host family's schedule. They sacrificed time, money, and space for me so I felt inclined to help them and go about their routines.

I attended high school with my host sister, helped my host mother with grocery shopping, and went on a few excursions throughout Okinawa with my entire family. They did so much for me and I am so grateful.

My biggest fear abroad was being unable to form a bond with my host family. As cliche as it sounds, I just let myself feel comfortable around them and came out of my shell. I was just myself.

I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when my family and I clicked, but I know it was when I showed them my true self. We've created a lasting bond, and they've even had the chance to meet me in my Kansas hometown!

Thanks to today's technology anyone can speak with anyone, anywhere! Make sure you get your host family's social media accounts and their address, too!

I personally love sending my family Christmas presents and birthday gifts! Make sure you find out their birthdays! They feel special that you want to know.

Our company is a not-for-profit company, so success is clearly not measured monetarily, the only exception being the number of scholarships we can offer. YFU sets up the framework for individuals to go abroad and make their own memorable intercultural learning experience. Success to me means enabling each individual to enjoy their time abroad and to not shy away from tough situations that may bring the biggest aha-moments and the deepest connections. Combing more than 60 years of experience in our student, host family, and volunteer orientations helps us set up our participants to be successful and that ultimately is the only success that counts.

Youth For Understanding is an amazing non-profit that organizes exchange experiences. For over 60 years, individuals in the United States and around the world have contributed to the goals and mission that originated with one volunteer. Not only do we have decades of experience to look back on, we have a dedicated team of volunteers and staff. Around the world we practice what we preach, working inter-culturally sensitive with each other, growing and developing our staff through training and meeting that bring us back to our core work on a regular basis. This love of the mission shines through and is something that the participants can feel and experience.

I recently heard an amazing story from a host family in Hungary. Hungary, being located in central Europe, is a major stopping point for refugees coming to Europe to seek shelter. Unfortunately, the political tendency has been more nationalistic than open in recent years. We have a host family where the father is an active politician in the conservative party. This year, when they picked their student, they chose an American girl who is the daughter of a lesbian couple with very progressive views. Our partner in Hungary started a conversation with the family to share why they don't think it is a good idea for this family to host this student. As it turns out, the family deliberately picked the student. They aim to get to know, love and make part of their family a person that is different from them and that will help them gain a broader understanding and perspective of the world.