Program Reviews

I would strongly suggest that participants are given more freedom. I wasn’t allowed to go nearly anywhere until February of my exchange which did not leave much time to truly explore my surroundings. But what I did explore I absolutely love. I wasn’t able to see much more than the city where I lived and two other regions and in a country like India it should really be facilitated for students to see more for a complete understanding of Indian culture because there are so many.

I absolutely loved my time abroad in Finland! It was the most amazing and educational experience of my entire life and I grew so much even though it was a relatively short 5 week trip. I made lasting friendships with my entire host family and the other students who traveled with me to Finland.
While I was located primarily in Helsinki, students may end up living in cities all over Finland depending on where their host family lives. Students will likely have the opportunity to visit a summer cottage, if their family owns one, as well! Either way everyone will end up with a unique and life changing experience.
I would absolutely encourage anyone considering this trip to just go for it, and to try as many new things as possible while abroad!

In the Summer of 2017 I packed up a very small bag and headed to New York for my initial student orientation at Long Island University. The orientation was very relaxed and helped to introduce me to my fellow travelers.

We then proceeded to fly across the globe to Delhi, India, where we were greeted by AFS staff and taken to a nearby resort. Our living quarters were quite luxurious and the orientation beyond thorough.

When the program in my host city began, I was without much support from staff or volunteers. This was not the case for most people, and most students had a wonderful AFS family in their host cities. Despite my independence, I managed to create my own network of friends- both foreign and Indian.

AFS India was a smaller entity than many of their other country's operations, so they were visibly limited as to involvement. Despite their size, however, they made sure that we as students were always safe and secure. There was never a moment that I felt lost in the system or in danger.

If I could do the program over again, I would be more vocal to the few volunteers that were with me in my host city regarding the challenges that I was facing, and if anyone is considering embarking on a similar journey, I encourage them to do the same.

India as a location is phenomenal. The people are incredibly diverse and unbelievably welcoming. However, unless you look like an Indian, you will always be noticed, practically wherever you go. It was a difficult adjustment for me, but I soon came to terms with the innocent curiosity that the people had for foreigners.

The food is rumored to be spicy and hard to digest. At first, I agreed with this rumor whole-heartedly. However, after a mere week I came to enjoy it. Compared to American food, it has little diversity, which is also an adjustment. High carb consumption and low calorie intake are also difficult diet factors that I had to adjust to. The taste is great, but it can leave you feeling malnourished to an extent. Be prepared to bring protein powders, and know that Amazon India is a great resource for resupply.

All in all, I saw things that changed my perspective on humanity itself, all the while making relationships that I know will go on for a lifetime.

At the end of my program, we had what felt like two end-stay orientations, the first in Delhi where we spent time reflecting on the past year, and the second visiting the Taj Mahal. Both experiences went smoothly and I regard the memory as a whole as the most fascinating experience of my life thus far, and the beginning of a life-long desire to experience more colorful cultures.

Hello, my name is Angel Reyes and I was part of the 2016-17 Study Abroad program in Japan and may I say it was absolutely amazing! First off, everything was so carefully planned out and the staff was so nice and caring. All the time I was with them I always felt secure and happy as if I was at home, it was only until I had settled in my japanese parents’ house that it actually hit me that I was in Japan(yes I call them my parents)! Everything was so cool and amazing but there was some things that were kind of off. For example, there would be these reunions with all the AFS people and students and they were cool and all but the activities that were held there were not good. It was kind of boring but it was fun to see everyone! That is actually about it everything else was perfect! If you do read this I want to ask this favor, can you communicate with Mana Hashimoto and the people from San Antonio, Marc Patsnier are the best, nicest, awesomest people ever! Without them, my experience in Japan wouldn’t have happened or been as awesome as it was! Thank you so much!

This abroad experience in high school was formative in my growth as a teenager. I now work in international exchanges, because of the overwhelmingly positive experience I had on my semester abroad with AFS. Intercultural experience is so important - I learned so much as an exchange student, and while it wasn't all easy by any stretch of the imagination, through the challenges of going abroad I grew as a person.

I had a great year abroad with AFS Japan. I was in the Tokyo-Chuo chapter which gave me an extremely nice host family and placed me in an amazing private school. I was able to travel around Japan with my host family and school. My schoolmates were super kind and I still like to exchange letters with them. This program cemented my love for Japan and I can't wait until I am able to return to Japan.
This was a truly wonderful experience and I strongly believe that this program hugely helped me when it was time to apply for colleges.

Going to France had been a dream of mine for years, as I was taking French in school. Fortunately, my high school is very involved with AFS and their exchange programs, and in 2016, the school was awarded a scholarship for one student to go on an AFS Global Prep program which was two weeks long. My French teacher and a local AFS advocate met and decided to award me the scholarship, so I got to go in the summer of 2016.

In July, I met up with other AFS students going on the program at JFK Airport in New York for our flight over. Once we arrived, we were amazed at how beautiful Nice was. The place we were staying at had gorgeous villas on the mountains, and it was picturesque. The downside to this beautiful place was that we were not allowed to venture out to explore, so even though we were in Nice, we did not get to experience as much of France as we had hoped. The other disappointment came in the form of the food. We were not allowed to be out of the location for our meals, and the food they served us was not exactly French, and it was barely passing as food.

Overall though, I was able to meet so many awesome people and make friends with many others from all over Europe (as many other students at this program were non-AFS, European students). I believe that the program no longer exists, and I would not recommend it to my friends, but it was an incredible experience. I still was able to learn some French, make friends, see wonderful views, and get a taste of what France has to offer. However, I would love to go back to France as a regular traveler and actually experience the culture.

India, as cheesy as it sounds, was completely life changing. A lot of my personal growth has occurred since I have returned back to the U.S., my home country. While I was in India, I was able to meet so many different people, including exchange students from other countries. This international experience was not like traveling to Europe over the summer with my family, but it truly immersed me in Indian culture and encouraged me to test my own beliefs and values. Often, I came across a person I did not agree with. In the beginning I would always try and prove to them why my opinion was correct, and theirs was wrong. Throughout my exchange, I learned how ineffective this was. Instead, my goal of a conversation would be to help them understand why I believed what I believed as well as for me to understand their thinking. This is one of the most critical things I learned from my time in India. How to not only tolerate but respect others especially when their views or opinions differed from my own. In addition, I suffered from ethnocentric views. This inhibited me from curly being able to see the beauty of other cultures. Living in India for 11 months showed me so much of India which is not usually showed in media in the U.S. which helped develop my genuine love for the country. Finally, the most important part of exchange were the people. Whether I'm talking about my host family, friends, other exchange students, AFS staff, all these people made such a detrimental impact to my exchange and who I am today. As I grow and create new relationships I start to see bits and pieces of other people in myself. Growing in India helped me to become a better person and these bits and pieces have developed me into a more conscious, kind, empathetic and critically thinking human. Of course, I have to give a shoutout to all the amazing people I met through AFS. I will never stop believing that the president of my local AFS chapter in India was the kindest most considerate human I have ever met. Ajay Mehta of the Rajkot, Gujarat chapter showed me more kindness in a time that I needed it most than anyone else. Ajay uncle was someone who all the exchange students agreed always had our best interest at heart. We always knew he would do whatever he could to help any situation possible. Ajay uncle made a difference in my exchange as I felt I have someone who would advocate for me when needed. a year after my exchange, Ajay uncle was in Oregon (where my parents live) for an AFS conference. When he came he was able to stay for dinner with my family which was such an amazing experience. Other people that were important to my exchange were my host family. My host family was the highlight of my time in India. I truly could argue that nobody had a better host family than the Vadgamas! Living with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, two cousins, mom, dad, three sisters and my younger brother, I truly got the traditional Gujarati experience. One of my favorite parts was sleeping on the floor in a common space with my three sisters and little brother all under the same mosquito net. Of course I was offered a bed, but I preferred to sleep with them because it meant I was not getting special treatment, I was a part of the family. My family was so kind and always tried to do things that would expose me to their culture. Living in a big family never got bored and I became incredibly close with my mom and three sisters. We were all the same size so we all shared clothes. Getting ready for festivals was so much fun because they got to dress me up in whatever they had. My sisters were so interested in American culture so we would dress up in my western clothes whenever we got the chance.
I could go on for forever and talk about specific times that were life changing like the time I climbed a mountain in the northern part of India in the middle of winter to the famous Vaishno Devi temple, celebrated 9 days of dancing (Navratri), got off at the wrong bus stop in the middle of nowhere, saw the Taj Mahal and so much more.
India was incredible.

I want to begin by clarifying why I rated "Safety" a 9-- It was more on us as participants than the program itself. We just always seemed to leave someone at the hostel before we went somewhere (we really sucked at counting off, I guess) but never at any point during the trip did I feel unsafe.
I ultimately ended up choosing Nepal because I'd never previously considered going there. I didn't know anything about the culture and I figured the best way to learn would be to go through a program where I would be guided through and truly immersed in Nepalese culture; that's exactly what happened. I went to Nepal the summer between high school and college and I firmly believe this trip helped me adjust to college life easier than I would've had I not gone. I flew alone for the first time, I didn't get the chance to talk to my family much due to the time difference and the lack of wifi, and I gained confidence in my ability to spend my money wisely and make other important decisions. Being away from the comfort of home and making "adult" decisions are some of the biggest adjustments of your freshman year, but honestly most of the situations I was faced with during my first year of college seemed easy to me because I was constantly saying to myself, "If I can do this on the other side of the world with very little resources, I can do it at college." Going 300+ miles away for school may seem far, but after being over 7,000 miles away from home for two weeks it seemed like nothing. I came home from Nepal feeling like I could conquer the world.
As for the program itself, there was never a dull moment. My group was small and we got very close almost instantly. It was very rare that we had wifi or other luxuries we take for granted here in the US, so we connected through games and actually talking; the friendships I made in Nepal are some of the most genuine I've ever had. My love of hiking really blossomed in Nepal after we spent four days trekking through the Annapurna Mountain Range. Although it took me some time for my body to get used to the food, almost everything we had was really good. You WILL have the best milkshake of your life in Pokhara. Get the oreo milkshake, the strawberry one isn't that great. You will see some of the most beautiful sunsets and landscapes on this trip. My favorite memory from the trip is definitely when I ripped my pants at the Peace Pagoda. I'm a dancer and I take a video of me doing a toe touch every time I travel, so I got this iconic moment on video to remember forever.
I have a pretty decent list of things future participants should know, but I will try to keep it short and sweet. 1) Buy a camelback water pouch because it's easier to stay hydrated on the trek with one. 2) Bring some wipes/extra toilet paper. 3) Be careful of who you touch, especially if you're a girl. It's not normal for Nepalese men to touch women they aren't related to, even if it's just to shake hands. Some will be fine with handshakes or hugs, but it's always better to ask! On a similar note, Nepalese men hold hands all the time, whether they are partners or just friends. It's totally normal! 3) If you want good views of the mountains when on the trek, wake up SUPER early when the clouds tend to clear. 4) Bring a decent amount of money and watch how you spend it. The conversion to rupees from dollars seems like it's a great deal ($1 was about 100 rupees), but things are very expensive in rupees; I paid around 800 rupees for a pair of pants. Also, the program does provide all meals, but if you want a drink other than a water or soda with your meal you have to buy it yourself and that can add up quick (again, best milkshakes in the world). 4) Bring a good raincoat. 5) Wash your own clothes. A kid in my groups lost 90% of his clothes after we sent them off to be washed. But on the positive side, our leaders bought him clothes so he was comfortable. 6) Even if you think you have a good tolerance for spicy foods, chips chili will set your mouth on fire. They're very delicious and bearable in SMALL quantities. 7) There will be scheduled power outages throughout the day and night, so air conditioning and lights aren't always available. 8) Even though Nepal is generally hot, it get's pretty chilly in the mountains during the trek so pack a hoodie and some sweatpants. 9) Do everything you can to not walk in puddles or in the rivers during the trek-- that's where leeches thrive and they WILL make their way into your boots. 10) Check the expiration dates on any pre-packaged food you buy, especially in the Katmandu airport. 11) Bring a battery-operated alarm clock just in case your phone doesn't adjust with the time change.
You will grow and learn so much about yourself no matter what AFS Global Prep trip you choose, but I feel the Nepal program is especially beneficial because the people and culture of Nepal are unlike any that Americans tend to be familiar with. This trip is challenging mentally and physically, but by keeping an open mind and throwing yourself into the program it will be so rewarding.

Hugging my mother goodbye is how I began my journey. It was like a scene of a movie, every moment seemed surreal. To separate yourself from your loved ones for 9+ months seems impossible at first but I found that with separation you are able to mold yourself into the person you want to be. I wouldn’t trade the world for the months I spent in Germany. Not only did I meet new people, I made lifelong relationships with people from around the world. When I reached the end of my program I was emotional, not only to leave but to continue my life at home as a changed person. If I learned anything it was that leaving is never a “goodbye” it’s a “see you later.”