Anybody who has studied abroad in high school?

Hi!

Being an exchange student will be a life changing experience for you. While I have not done an exchange myself, I've hosted 13 exchange students and lived abroad in Germany for several years.

You are smart to want to go to a non-English speaking country! While it will make things a bit more difficult for you in the beginning, you will be able to take full advantage of one of the biggest benefits of an exchange year -- language immersion.

One of the other posters had a good point about your credits. Going in your junior year will help a lot with that. You need to speak to your counselor now about scheduling your classes for the next several years. For example, you might have to double up on sophomore and junior English, take a summer course or a correspondence course in order to graduate on time. Generally your high school will give you foreign language credit, social studies credit and perhaps math and science, depending upon the country and school you go to.

You will be needing to pick a program. Make sure it is CSIET listed (www.csiet.org). Also, ask your counselor for a recommendation. A program is only as good as its local representatives. Generally, AFS, Aspect, Rotary and YFU are reliable everywhere. And, if it's a program your counselor is familiar with, getting credits arranged will be easier.

As to expense, a foreign exchange IS expensive, ranging from $7,000 - $10,000 per year depending upon the organization and country you wish to go to. Rotary is considerably cheaper, but more competitive. Many programs also offer scholarships, so if you apply early that will be helpful too. Something else to consider is the tanking dollar. That makes Europe (and most of the rest of the world) expensive for us at the moment. However, since you have a couple of years, you can also earn some money for your exchange.

Program fees will generally cover travel, insurance, orientations and local help if needed, placement into a host family and school. Rotary is set up totally different, you pay plane fare and they pick up other things. You'll have to contact them for more program details.

From a host family stand point, I can tell you a few of the most important things. First, fill out your application and write your application letter as accurately as you can. It's not good to get a kid that totally is different from how he or she presented his/herself! Second, when you arrive, leave home home! You should be living in the country where you are, not communicating with the U.S. all the time. This can be a HUGE problem! Third, pick up after yourself! Your family is volunteering to host you, not be your maid!

From a student point of view, it's important to get as much language study done as possible before you go! So, if you apply early, you'll have your country earlier! Rosetta Stone is a wonderful learning tool. When you arrive, don't depend on others to do all the "friend making", you will need to be proactive in getting involved and making friends. Don't turn down ANY invitation (unless of course you feel it is illegal or morally wrong) even if you don't think you'll like the activity! You never know, and an invitation is an offer of friendship!

Now, to get some information on exchange student experiences, you can check out this on-line community: http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

Good luck and have a great time and I hope you don't mind a "non" exchange student answering you!

I was an exchange student for the summer between my jr and sr year in high school, and I honestly wouldn't let my kids do it! I was in a very unsupervised environment and make a lot of poor choices. I'm not saying every hs student would do this, but make sure you know yourself and what you're hoping to get from this experience. I went to a Spanish speaking country and came home fluent. I would definitely say go someplace where you're going to learn the language. I did an exchange in college to the former country Yugoslavia. I was there when the Berlin wall came down (yes, I know I must be ancient, lol) hike around ruins in Greece, drove through the Alps and lots of other once in a lifetime kinds of things. I was a lot more ready to know what I wanted from the trip. Also, be sure your school will allow you to use the credits from the foreign country towards graduation. You may be stuck doing another year of high school and miss out on graduating with your friends. Universities have reciprocal programs where you do get to use all of the credits.

Not sure if that's what you were asking, but hope it helps.

try the company EF. I was going to go to France then ended up going to New Zealand for 6 months. It is the highlight of my life! I met so many great people and its nothing like the US. Of course if you want to learn another language in Europe you could go to Spain, learn Spanish, and still have great weather!

You can try to visit this website which I just came across, there are a lot of information on Study Abroad, hopefully may help you:

http://summer-study-abroad-program.blogspot.com/

I'll be surprised if you are able to do this. You may have to wait until your junior year.