Program Reviews

China is an amazing country, full of beautiful, humble and really nice people. They always make sure you feel part of the family. I did my exchange in a Highschool in Jiu Jiang City. During this time I lived with a chinese family and was a regular student.

I'll try to organize my experience the best I can:

AFS-China: Everything gets ready in your home country. Every student who is about to make the same exchange program as you arrives on the same date. With that you start the introduction, they explain the rules and prepare you to leave the next day to the city where you're going to stay. From this time on, the school es the one in charge of whatever happens to you. Normally AFS' work is to make sure you have a nice transition when introduce into the culture. They do this by giving each student a contact person. In China things work differently, they don't give any contact person, when I was there my only contact person was my teacher, and he wasn't available always and didn't have much time. This was something that other students experience as well. Another thing is that in my case in particular I had problems with my first family, and was left homeless for around two months, during this time AFS was suppose to help me out and work on finding me a family as soon as possible, but they didn't or it didn't feel like it. Instead they contacted the school, and ask them to find me a family, and during this time my school had a "foreigners apartment" where I stayed.
Life in China: living in China is a mixture of feelings, everything is as weird as you can expect and a bit more, but its also magical. China has one of the best cuisines I have ever tried, and you should be very open minded to enjoy everything. I must admit that the first shock you receive is the cultural difference, and AFS tries to explain that this is going to happen during it's training, but you can never imagine what it really feels like.

Language barrier was one of the biggest problems, if not the biggest. The percentage of people who speaks english is really really low, and chinese is a hard language to begin with, without any basis it takes a long time to start understanding and speaking, but once you start to understand chinese just get easier and easier.

Traveling: It's hard to travel alone with AFS, they have certain rules you have to fulfill in order to accept your request. It's hard to get all the requests ready, but it's completely worth it. Traveling in China is an amazing experience, I would go as for as to say it's the best experience of all.

School life in China: This varies a lot from city to city. In my case I was in Jiu Jiang (九江市 ). For me this meant I have to attend class like any other student my age (16 at the time). My schedule was starting from 7 am till 12 for 2 hours of lunch, then begin the afternoon from 14h until 19h for one hour break for dinner, and finally from 20h until 22h to go home. This everyday from Monday to Saturday. Yep, you read that well, 6 days a week of school, all day. It was exhausting, I stopped going to the night classes because I was doing nothing there. After some time I started to go in the afternoon to play outside with some friends. School expected nothing from me, everything was in chinese so I couldn't do much, and the worst was that all my classmates were always at school, so I couldn't make friends, and even if I do no one could speak with me, nor they could help me because no one had time. That's the most frustrating part, specially if you want to interact with chinese people. The good part is that you are not alone, you and all the other foreigners become one huge family to help each other survive and make the experience unique. That's not good if you're looking to learn the language as best as possible and to live the culture to the fullest, but it's part of the experience never the less.

I studied abroad for an year as an exchange student. I stayed San Diego, which is amazing place. My host family and school are very nice to stay and study. Also lieson of AFS in my area helped me a lot. This experience was so worth it for me. At highschool, I took subjects which I can't learn in Japan at school, such as film making and dance class. There was a Japanese class in my highschool, so when I had difficulties I was able to ask Japanese teacher. Actually whether this program will succeed or not depends on the area, I think. Because some area of AFS lieson won't help me and I've heard lots of troubles between host families and exchange students. So I recommend this program people who are able to try to fit in different cultures and circumstances.

With the help of the AFS BP Global Citizens Scholarship, I was able to spend an entire year in the exciting and hot country of Brazil! Like many think before arriving in Brazil, I believed I would walk the boastful streets of Rio everyday, see the giant Amazon Rainforst, catch a parahna or two, and make friends along the way. Well, after landing in my designated state of Rio Grande do Norte my thoughts immediately changed. Brazil was at the peak of its dry season when I arrived and along the two hour drive to my host families house nothing but dessert and rocks was all the scenery I was greeted with. I remember when I first met my host family; they met me at the door with balloons and hugs. She invited me and my abroad councilor inside and gave us baloney on white bread. I couldn’t eat it! Everything smelled awedul but I did not want to be rude on my first day so I forced myself to eat it calmly. From that first day on I continued to meet different kinds of issues. Some of those issues included, not having anyone to help me learn the local language, being the only AFS student during orientations that had never traveled the world before, making friends, and having financial issues. Many times I had to learn how to adapt on my own because I had no one who could understand me. I wanted to shut myself in my room so many times while I was in Brazil. Things got so bad at my host families house between me and my host sister that I decided to change families. From this day I do beleive that was the best decision I had made that entire year. Better things began to happen to me; my new host family were much easier to communicate with, I joined a gym for an extracurricular activity, and I was able to take a trip to Rio de Janeiro for a week! I enjoyed my trip to Rio so much that I plan to return with my sister so I can give her the same experience there that I had. The plans I had made before arriving in Brazil did not go at all like I had imagined. The cultural adjustment was not easy and neither was the language barrier. However,the trip gave me many life lessons that I learned discovering things in my own. Probably, my biggest regret was not becoming fully fluent in Portuguese yet I am still very happy with myself for learning more than the basics of the language. I to this day recommend other student in high school and in college to take the oppurtunity to go abroad. I learned that it does change your life and that everyone should have that experience of a lifetime.

No matter where you end up living in Costa Rica, there is always an opportunity to travel and see the other parts of the country. Traveling throughout Costa Rica is very easy because of how great the public bus system is and how reasonable the costs are. The people of Costa Rica are very friendly and always willing to sit down to talk over coffee and bread in the afternoon. The atmosphere is 100% Pura Vida and everybody is always relaxed and very go-with-the-flow.

When abroad with AFS on the CBYX Department of state scholarship for the 2014-2015 school year, my experience was an A++. AFS matters. We had the opportunity to meet other exchangers, travel around the country, had a support network and attended camps throughout the year. AFS helps students become immersed in their exchange communities while providing paid trips, 24/7 on phone emergency contact, and a mentor who is a part of the respective country of study. Better hope you place in the Leipzig chapter, they're the coolest! I meet Step In, Flag, CIEE, and other exchanges with other programs. No one is happier than an AFSer!
My time abroad was spent with a family of 5 in eastern Germany. I was placed in a high school with my host sister and regularly attended classes with fellow German teens. I joined a choir and sang in various capacities in my free time. Outside of school, I enjoyed horseback riding, biking and hiking with my host family. The highlight of my year was cross-country and down-hill skiing with my extended host family in the Alps.
AFS CBYX afforded me a rare and glories experience, and I have had the privilege to study in Germany again as a Junior with Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. AFS CBYX was one of the many "best decisions" of my life!

I was a student living in Fukuoka on the AFS Summer Intensive Language program, and looking back on my month there I can confidently say that it was the best month of my life so far. The support I recieved during the program was phenomenal. The Afs staff and volunteers were all so friendly and approachable and my host family were made up of some of the kindest, most hospitable people I have ever met. I went into the program knowing very little Japanese, as well as not being the most confident, outgoing person ever. I wouldn't say that this program totally allowed me transform me a totally new, extroverted person, but it did teach me to not to be afraid of trying new things and to not be afraid of making mistakes (because you will make them. A LOT of them). Considering I was only there for 5 weeks, I am pleased with how my Japanese progressed, as by the end of the program I was able to pretty solidly hold a basic conversation with a native speaker.

Probably one of the highlights for me on this trip was not only experiencing so many different aspects of Japanese culture, but meeting so many people from around the world. I couldn't tell you how many nationalities were represented on this program as there were so many. It was truly amazing that we were all able to become so close with each other, and as time went on I began to see them less and less as being Italian or French or Australian or Malaysian or American, but as simply being my friends. You WILL meet a lot of nationalities on this program, which I thought was one of the rewarding aspects of it. You not only get to learn about Japanese culture, but you get to learn about everyone else's cultures as well, even your own.

Finally, the biggest piece of advice I have for you is one that you might hear a lot, and it's SAY YES TO EVERYTHING. As cliché as it might sound, it's true. Some of the best times I had was by doing everything I could possibly do, even if at first it didn't sound fun or if I was tired. I made so many memories by doing things such as simply going to the grocery store with my host mom; you never know what you could end up experiencing.

Although I do recognize that studying abroad isn't for everyone, if you are on the fence about going I urge you to do it. Some days will be hard and sometimes you will feel disheartened, sorrowful, or even scared, but that's how you grow. You will learn so much, try so many new things, meet so many new people, eat so many types of new food you thought never existed, and ultimately come away with a greater understanding and a new perspective of the world around you. Although I was only there for a month, AFS definitely changed my life. I hope that it will change yours too.

Going to India was absolutely incredible! I will never be able to express how much it did for me. I'll always remember arriving to a birthday cake and gift from my sweet host family. Then, the first day, I found myself doing a dance in front of some underprivileged children. For those who know me, I don't dance. So I really was able to do things in India that got me out of my comfort zone. I realized in going to India that it wasn't the Taj Mahal and places that I visited that made India cool, it was the people I met and the culture that I experienced. I learned a ton and will always be grateful for the hospitality of the people there and the friendships I made.

I was in Switzerland for eleven months, ending in July 2015. I would absolutely recommend the AFS program, the Switzerland chapter is wonderful. My host family truly is a family to me (we're skyping Sunday). I met so many other exchange students, and because Switzerland is a small country, it wasn't difficult to travel inside and outside of the country. Some of my favorite memories include the exchange student parties in the parks, using my days off to explore a new canton or city, and hiking with my Swiss parents or watching movies with my Swiss sister. One experience unique to AFS is the volunteer camps: I and about 30 other exchange students spent a week in the mountains helping Swiss farmers. It was hard work, but after we'd finish, we'd return to the house we stayed in, cook dinner, dance (a lot), tell stories, and play games. I loved being with so many people who understood my experience and immersing myself in the environment, and it brought me closer to a lot of my friends, many of whom I'm still in regular contact with. I wish I could go back to my Swiss family or be on exchange again, I absolutely love traveling and I'm looking to do more of it at every opportunity. If you're thinking about exchange: do it. It won't always be easy, but it's absolutely worth it in the end and you'll experience so much personal growth.

Just like many other exchange returnees will tell you, this trip was life-changing. Although it was very short, at just two weeks, it was long enough for me to love with China. Each day in this program was packed with different activities to do with the other American students on the trip or the Chinese students. We usually had Chinese classes in the mornings at an international school, and spent the afternoons experiencing cultural activities or interacting with Chinese students. We all stayed with host families. I had an amazing family, and we somehow managed to become very close in the short time that I was there, so much that my host sister and I were crying by the time I left, but I still wouldn't take back this trip for the world!

My host family had a total of five kids. I enjoyed the hospitality of my host family when I went to Japan. They had a yoga teacher and they decided to sign me up for a few classes. She spoke English, so asking her questions about how to say something made it a little easier. After getting a close relationship with her, she decided to take me on vacation with her to another island with a few friends of hers. After driving two hours and getting on a boat for half an hour, we arrived at a destination that was just beautiful. When we arrived we got treated to delicious food. We went on the beach very often during the trip which was very fun. Also, we decided to go for a swim at the beach. Additionally, we popped fireworks out on the beach having a great time. We also began to hike up in the mountains and saw a various amount of shooting stars. We were able to get a hold of many stars that night, so we decided to get a blanket and lay down on the floor to find more. It was an experience I will never forget.