Semester in Japan

The experience of living in Japan with a Japanese family, going to a Japanese high school, and speaking Japanese everyday for six months was life altering. AFS will send you anywhere (I was sent to the far North of Japan), but they make sure it is safe, and the volunteers and other exchange students offer a unique support system. In contrast, I had an exchange friend who went through another program, and she had no students her age with her to talk about her experiences. AFS offers a support system before, during, and after the exchange. While there are limits on how far one can travel from their host school, I was still able to travel with my host school to Kyoto, Nagasaki, and Osaka. As a student who had never been to Asia and had to get a visa for the first time, the help AFS provided makes me highly recommend studying abroad through them.