Program Reviews

Going on an intercultural exchange is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so you have to make sure you do it right. YFU is the best option. While I did have many exciting, educational, and emotional experiences abroad, my father had his doubts at first. After conducting thorough research, we concluded that YFU was the safest program around with their intricate layers of support for both the student and natural family. During my exchange, YFU ensured that I was safe, comfortable, and ready to learn. They mapped out each part of the exchange to avoid mishaps, accidents, and distrubances (even at the airport which was miraculous). Great experiences can be had anywhere, but safe and educational experiences are YFU's specialty in my opinion. I encourage any parents of prospective students to research YFU's support system, and I bet you will come to the same conclusion that my father and I did: YFU is the best option.

Going abroad was singlehandedly the scariest and most exciting thing I've ever done in my life. It wasn't my first time away from home, but the first time being so far away and out of reach from my family. But I don't regret it. I did have many struggles while abroad. My host family was the complete opposite of mine and we did struggle to connect. But the friends I've made and the experience I've gotten to know make it worth while. Exchange is different for everyone. How they view can differ from person to person. The biggest advice I can give, especially for an exchange as short as mine, is don't be afraid. I truly look back at it as a life changing experience. There will always be something left to be desired but that just gives me another excuse to go back!

YFU partnered with DC Public Schools during the summer of 2016, and they provided me with 17 days of study abroad in Belgium with 25 other students from Washington DC. Although, my trip was not the traditional study abroad experience, YFU volunteers provided several experiences by showing us Belgium and by teaching us french! I am very grateful for YFU for providing me this life changing experience!

I can truthfully say that my YFU exchange was the most life-changing experience I've had in my entire life. The summer before my junior year of high school, I decided to push my limits and live in Spain for a month and a half. Even though I'd never been fond of sleep-away summer camps or had even been away from home for more than 5 days prior to my exchange, I knew that living in Spain for the summer would be an opportunity I couldn't miss. I was also encouraged to go on intercultural exchange by my father, who had completed the exact same program when he was my age. Even though I initially had many doubts on whether or not I'd be able to live by myself in a different country for so long, I was eager to try.
For me, the scariest part of the entire program was the 10 minutes leading up to meeting my host family. What if they didn't like me? What if they spoke too fast and I couldn't communicate? I can still vividly remember the thoughts of panic that shot through my mind. I would be picked up at the train station in Madrid, along with a couple of other American students from California and Chicago. We bonded over our mutual concerns, but I soon discovered that I'd really never had anything to be worried about. My host father picked me up at the train station and instantly gave me a big hug. From the first moment of ever meeting him, I felt like a welcome guest and member of the family. Later that day, I met my host mother, brother, sister, and their two dogs. My host parents treated me like a third daughter, and I was immediately accepted as an additional sibling to my host brother and sister. They were kind and patient as I struggled to better understand Spanish, and I could tell that they really cared about me.
Throughout my exchange, I learned to be more adaptable, independent, and better at problem solving. My experience taught me how to deal with challenges and better face the real world after high school. However, even while I was on my own with my host family, I still felt taken care of by YFU. I periodically spoke to my assigned representative to confirm that my experience was nothing but positive. YFU honestly thought of everything, from pre-departure orientations to an incredible support network. I can't even begin to explain how thankful I am for the opportunity YFU gave me to live in Spain, and I hope that many more students can experience intercultural exchange, too!!

Although I had only embarked on the student exchange trip for a summer, the short time that I stayed in Japan changed my life in a large way. Prior to the experience, I feel as if I understood the perspective of different countries around the world; however, I know now that that is not entirely true. In my textbooks and research online, it is possible for me to accumulate knowledge and information on the different parts of the world. Every day, there is plenty of news that comes out that is not about the US. Through that, my view of the world is limited to only to what I see in the news. In my exchange I not only was able to see the flaws and differences between what I anticipated Japan to be, but I was also able to receive a new family make a ton of new friends. That is a once in a lifetime chance. Following my exchange I have become more aware of some of the distorted views of the world through media and am able to self-assess myself in a better manner. Seriousness aside, this was also one of the best times of my life! Really, in the beginning, I was extremely doubtful of going on this trip, but when I came back, I think it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I know it's hard to break out of the comfort zone, and that is exactly what this program is asking of you, but trust me, it is definitely worth it!

The Youth for Understanding Johnson & Johnson Hungary Scholarship was a life-changing experience for me. This six week cultural immersion program gave me the opportunity to become the daughter of two Hungarian families. It has shaped me into the person I am today by helping me become more independent who can adapt to different environments quickly. I will never forget this past summer, not only because of all of the amazing things I experienced while in Hungary, but also because of all of the friendships I made. Youth for Understanding placed me with two amazing host families. My first host family lived 20 minutes from Budapest in a village named Kosd. I had four siblings in this family- three sisters and one little brother. My second host family was located on the other side of Hungary in a city named- Pecs. I had an older sister and a younger brother. My mother, who was also named Aniko, planned sightseeing trips for me to different countries in Europe. It was truly an unforgettable experience. I now have memories that I will always remember from when we traveled to Italy and Slovenia for a weekend. Additionally, my older host sister- Johanna- and I had the same interests. This experience truly opened my eyes and allowed me to learn how people in other parts of the world live. I would have never been able to truly experience this if it weren’t for this scholarship. I will always be grateful to Johnson & Johnson for giving me this life changing experience. I learned many valuable lessons this past summer. The most valuable lesson was realizing that I was more independent than I could have ever imagined. I am currently a high school senior applying to many universities. I am no longer scared to apply to out of state universities because of the self- confidence and independence I gained this past summer. This experience has shown me that I am capable of living away from home and adapting to a new atmosphere with no issues.

During my time abroad through YFU, I worked as a student teacher at a bilingual school teaching Chinese 4-5 year-olds English. The teacher I shadowed was pregnant, so she couldn't do some of the more physical activities with the students. I took on many of those more physical tasks, such as leading the students through their morning dance routine.
Morning dance routine? Yes, morning dance routine. Every morning at 8 o'clock, myself and the other teacher would lead all 5 classes of 30 5-year-olds outside to do a routine that we all had memorized. I would bring the boombox and play the song as soon as all the students were assembled in orderly lines. We would do the choreography in front of the students to help them if they forgot, and made sure none of them were fooling around instead of doing the routine.
After multiple months of doing this with them every morning, the Chinese teachers delegated me as the teacher who would lead the students in the routine on the school open house day. I was terrified of forgetting the choreography or something silly happening, but I accepted the responsibility! I led all of the students onto the field, had them all line up into orderly lines, and then we began performing the dance routine in front of an audience of parents, faculty, and even the president of the school. Before we were done, the audience had multiplied because everyone was excited to see the foreign girl doing the dance routine. We finished the dance routine flawlessly, and I turned around to see a massive, wide-eyed audience of students, parents, and faculty clapping in amazement at the foreigner successfully directing the students in Mandarin to do their routine.
It was an unforgettable experience, and felt like an amazing accomplishment for both my language and cultural understanding of China. Thanks to YFU's support and arrangements they made for me, it all became possible.

I've wanted to study abroad for as long as I can remember, but I had also decided it was completely impossible because of how expensive it is. The best discovery of my life was YFU's scholarships. Thanks to the Japan-America Friendship Scholarship, I was able to spend a month and a half in Japan for only $3000, including airfare, when it would have $12,000 without the scholarship. Some of the other, though harder to win, scholarships made the trip completely free and even gave the students other gifts like tickets to Tokyo Disney. The application fee to apply in the first place was a little expensive, but it ended up being completely worth it. Since YFU gives out a LOT of scholarships, it seems as though most people that apply end up winning.
Host families are all over the country and are picked according to matching interests. Be careful when you discuss your interests, because this is how families are matched, so if you aren't truthful, you won't end up with a good fit for you. Be honest, and you will find a family for life.
Before going to Japan, there is an orientation in California. Sadly, my scholarship's funding got cut a little bit this year, so the other scholarships had a three day long orientation and mine was only one day. Still, they covered all the important parts, and really only had to cut out the games that the longer orientations played.
I was placed on the border of Osaka and Nara. At first, this frightened me because I had heard that Osaka had a difficult dialect. However, I quickly realized that this was hardly an issue. I absolutely loved my location, as I was smack in the middle of some of the best cities in the country. Nara is famous for its docile deer that you can simply walk up to and pet. Kyoto, which was a half hour train ride from my house, is one of the most beautiful places in the country. If you ever see a picture of a beautiful temple or shrine in Japan, there's a decent chance it was taken in Kyoto. Osaka itself is a bustling city full of awesome places to shop, and houses Universal Studios.
The amount of time you attend school depends on your host school. Some of my fellow exchange students were attending school the entire time they were there. For me, I was only in school for about 9 days. I was assigned two buddies who were especially good at English to help me get around, and for one period every day all of the exchange students (three year long students from Estonia, the US, and Hungary, and two summer students, me and one other American girl) got together to help each other. On my last day, my classmates threw me a small surprise party. Though it was a little sad to only see class 2-9 for such a short time, it gave me more time to explore the country, and I still got to play with the tennis team so I still got time to hang out with my schoolmates.
One issue I had, which was out of YFU's control, was my host family. They were, sadly, one of the few host families who had hosted without realizing that they were ill equipped to host. It was only a dad and a daughter. The daughter completely ignored me (she later blamed it on shyness) and the host dad worked all the time, though he did try his best to be a good host parent. I have talked to many other exchange students, and this is a very uncommon issue. However, this did expose one of YFU's best qualities, which is their support system. My local area rep was more than happy to meet up with me several times and talk with me when I was having issues. My host family never took me out anywhere, so my area rep took me to see some very cool things on his own expense. I had the chance to move families, but decided not to take it since I decided that it would be too much drama in such a short time period. As a silver lining, I did develop a great deal of independence and was able to see a lot of Japan on my own or with other exchange students.
All in all, I would absolutely recommend this with all of my heart. Like all exchanges, there will be hard times and nobody will be happy with every part of their exchange. However, this is an amazing chance to grow as a person, live in another culture, and have what will easily be the most life changing summer of your life. If you are even considering applying for a scholarship, do it. You'll never know where you might end up.

I did not realize I would be immersed in a completely different language until I stepped off the plane and couldn't read the signs. My Japanese was next to none, and reading it was simply out of the question. I believed I was going to be completely on my own in Japan, and that no one was going to help me. I was afraid my host parents would not be able to understand me, or that I would get lost a dozen times over.

That could not have been farther from the case. YFU had prepared me to overcome the initial culture shock of language and customs with a pre-departure orientation in Berkeley, California, arming me with the tools and knowledge I needed to get through my first few days in Japan. All other words and customs I soon learned from my host family. YFU does an amazing job finding a host family perfect for you so that you can not only learn from them, but they learn from you.

The initial fear of the language barrier became less of an obstacle, and more of a small hurdle that I was determined to clear. Once I told myself this, communication was easy. I began to socialize more, and I wasn't afraid to speak Japanese (although it was extremely limited).

If it wasn't for YFU, I would not have been able to get out of my comfort zone and made so many great friends.

Participating in an exchange program was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, and also one of the best decisions I've ever made. Not only was it super fun to be able to see another country and the different culture, but being able to interact with others in a language I only partially know was one of the most difficult yet amazing things a high school student can do. This program helped me earn an appreciation for Japanese--and languages in general--and come to a realization that while language barrier is most certainly a difficultly, communication is still more than achievable. My host sister and I had a conversation--though it took us a while to communicate our different points--about Japan's and America's governments. Despite the fact that we both grew up in very different places with very different cultures, we shared many of the same opinions regarding rather controversial topics. That's the moment that I realized we're all rather alike, no matter where we come from. I'm so thankful to YFU for giving the opportunity to have this life-changing experience where I made so many amazing friends and learned more about the world.