Program Reviews

Spent 10 months in Catalonia. My perspective of the world completely changed. I was given the great opportunity to meet people from a different culture than what I was accustomed to. I enjoyed the many friendships I made and will always hold the connections I made with my host family close to my heart. I always go back and visit whenever I have the chance to. I am excited for my host family to come to the US and experience the culture here.

Truly one of the most memorable and life changing things I have had the opportunity to experience. I lived in Germany for 10 months through AFS and although I had no previous german language skills I worked really hard and picked it up relatively fast. At the end of my year I couldn’t imagine leaving my amazing friends, my host family, the amazing culture and everything else I experienced in Germany behind. I was home in the us the next year and decided I wanted to go back. So I applied and was accepted and am now attending college in berlin and plan to complete my entire bachelor here. Without my exchange year in Germany I would have never known what an amazing country it is and would have never ended up where I am right now. Throughout my exchange year I matured more than I realized and genuinely felt as though I was more aware of the world and my presence in it. Wouldn’t be the person I am today without it and highly recommend AFS (CBYX) to any students considering a year abroad.

AFS India was good. We had trips organized for us to get a better understand of what India is outside of our home location. The volunteers were kind and willing to help. My year, the YES Abroad participants there were put in boarding schools, which I feel was a mistake. They have since corrected that mistake and Americans are put with normal host families now. They were willing to listen to the pitfalls of my experience and make it better for others. Altogether, I was impressed with AFS India.

I just finished my exchange year in Indore, India and I am already missing everything about my life in my second home! I was on a somewhat different program called National Security Language Initiative for Youth, so while I was included in all the typical AFS events and trips, my main focus was learning Hindi at my host school. I loved learning Hindi and spending time with the other exchange students at my school. As a gap year student, I was able to take more cultural classes (classical dance, art, etc.) after my Hindi class each day. I learned so much about the Indian culture so quickly! I loved when I started to understand Hindi--it gave me a much deeper understanding of the culture and allowed me to connect with people I would not have been able to communicate with before due to the language barrier. NSLIY is a great program for anyone who loves language-learning and wants to really get to know a different culture up close. It is for a truly passionate language lover, though. I spent 3 hours a day in Hindi class which was fun for me, but could be too much for someone looking to take a more diverse range of classes with Indian peers.

I am already looking forward to returning to Indore to visit my host family and friends! And, most importantly, eat my favorite street food, pani puri!

Let me start with this: in the US, AFS was pretty organized in my opinion, they were easy to get a hold of, had meetings for information, and made me overall excited for my study abroad. AFS Japan on the other hand, a whole nother story. Well, I guess it largely depends on what chapter you get put into. I heard the Tokyo and Kyoto chapters were good.
Now that we have that out of the way, let me say that studying in Japan was a great experience. I definitely broadened my horizons, and learned a lot of Japanese, which was expected haha. My host families were perfect, my school amazing, it was just fun. However, the chapter for where I lived, and where my other friends lived, not as great. A big problem that was evident is the lack of freedom and choice AFS Japan gives you, and the obvious favorism towards the host families rather than the actual students. Your liasion is the main branch of communication with afs, however some don’t do their jobs too well. I barely communicated with my liaison at all, and was kind of forced to go to some events that I didn’t want to go to. Just hope that you get a good chapter and a slightly bigger one. There are some events that only the bigger chapters are able to take part in.
Apart from the bad communication between liaisons and their students, life was pretty fun in Japan. Let me give you a big tip though. If you don’t like your chapter, you are able to move to another one! You just have to know the president or liaison of a neighboring chapter and hope they understand what you’re going through.
One last thing, AFS Japan will treat you like a clueless kindergartener instead of a learning teenager. They probably will have set up childish games and parties for you. Have fun.

A truly amazing time, I made amazing friends and had the time of my life. Sadly the actual total immersion part wasn't there, I was exposed to a lot of English while trying to be fully immersed in French. Other than that, the french class itself was great and the teachers and staff were extremely kind. I felt cared for yet independent and free at the same time. Would do again without a second thought, I need to go back to that city, I'm homesick.

Overall it was a great program! We not only attended Spanish classes but also visited new cities on the weekends, which allowed us to learn even more about the country and culture. I made many great memories with everyone in the program and also made some lifelong friends. The program was also well organized and prepared. Our mentors were awesome and they also helped us with our Spanish. I really enjoyed the experience and would really recommend it!

Everyone always describes their exchange as “life changing” but mine was life expanding. Not only did I learn to speak Spanish with the help of my amazing host family and classmates, but I learned how to cook, surf, *actually* relax, and become part of the culture. When I returned, all I could ask myself was “when can I go back?” One thing to take with you there and come back with, is to always be open for change and new opportunities. Costa Rica is the best place to learn to adapt, improvise, and overcome any obstacle. My favorite memory has to be getting out of school early and grabbing some surfboards, food, drinks, and heading to the beach on some bikes with my friends for the rest of the day. There are no words to explain my experience, only a simple piece of advice: just go already!

I went to Italy as my junior year of high school, although I did not need an academic credit to transfer. I really wish I had had more time to study some Italian before I went, I only have about a month of prior notice before going. The best thing was there were a lot of opportunities to travel all over Italy with other students in the program. Studying abroad also made me realize that I wanted to go to college to study Anthropology (the study of human culture) after my intercultural experience.

I never learned a different language, so I really enjoyed having a lot of support to push myself. My teachers were really nice and helpful in providing guidence on how I should study. I also really enjoyed the food I ate and going on the trips with the group. Ever since my trip I was encouraged to keep learning languages and exploring different cultures. In college I’m trying to really be involved in learning more about my own culture and trying to help in any way I can. I also try to still keep in touch with my host sister because she was really sweet and introduced me to a lot of nice people.