This is the story of how I first got on the idea of going abroad:
So one day I'm just going through a normal day of my life when I get a forwarded email from my dad that my school (Cal High) sent out about this foreign exchange program called AFS. At first I just discarded it like the billion other emails full of pointless stuff my school sends out. Then later I was like, "Wait. It actually might be kind of cool to go abroad for a while." I'm a really independent person, and I love to travel so I thought that it would be really cool to go to another country for a couple of weeks, maybe in the summer. I was also really into the fact that I would be virtually on my own and wouldn't have my parents there. So I decided to go to the meeting thing that my school was holding about AFS. (A returnee, Miranda Shakes, from my school, who went to China two years ago was giving a presentation.)
I went to the presentation thinking that I would just get the information about the summer program, and then pick where I wanted to go and bring everything to my parents. I can remember the exact moment I changed my mind about the summer program; as I sat there listening to Miranda talking about how she went to China for a semester and how she wished she went for a whole year, I started thinking that it wouldn't be all that bad if I went for more than a few weeks. That meeting is where I switched from wanted to go for the summer to wanting to go for the year. (I'll make a summer vs. year program post soon.)
Anyways, I picked Spain because I wanted to go somewhere that spoke Spanish, and my mom thought anywhere in Central or South America was too unsafe for her liking, so that left Spain. I feel like Spain is the perfect fit for me anyways. I love the fact that it's in Europe, I don't know why, I just do.
So I typed up a bunch of stuff and then accidentally deleted it so if I redo this and some it doesn't make sense, sorry.
Okay, so after I picked the Spanish year-long program, I researched a lot and then brought the information to my parents. I had sort of kind of talked to my parents about going to Spain on the summer program and they were already pretty much on board for me doing that. The switch from the summer program to the year program was really big for my parents. The biggest difference for them was obviously the change in price. (More on that in a minute.) Another thing that stood out for them was the difference in the program length. It went from being a six week thing to a ten month thing. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard for me to convince my parents to let me go for that long. Like I said, I'm independent, and my parents know I'll do fine on my own. Really the only things that concerned my parents was the price and the education.
Just so you know the price of the year long program in Spain is $13,750 (plus the $75 preliminary app, $200 fuel surcharge, all visa related costs, about $3,000 for recreation costs, AND all other related costs). The cost for the summer program was significantly less. I worked for weeks and weeks and weeks, thinking and rethinking, doing and redoing the numbers, so that I could work out a way that I could go on exchange. I have to give a huge thank you to my grandparents for giving me the opportunity to go. They promised that they would give me $7,000 dollars (roughly half) for the program. The fact that they were willing to take away half the cost made it possible for me to figure out numbers that satisfied both of my parents (they're divorced so it's a little harder than it sounds). Now, my grandparents are not actually going to pay $7,000 (my parents figured it out), and before I sound like a spoiled brat, I am working and contributing what I can for myself. Finally, I got the reluctant but reliable YES to go on foreign exchange.
Then started the application process. If you reading this because you're thinking of going on exchange, and have already submitted your preliminary application and are ready to start your full application, my big tip to you would be DON'T HESITATE. The entire thing takes longer than you think and it's always best to strive for the priority deadline, so get started right away. It ended up taking my administrators like three weeks to get me the papers I needed (that was sort of because she totally forgot about it but either way it took weeks). Also, the doctor's clearance took a while. I submitted my full application the day of the priority deadline. You should note that the priority deadline doesn't guarantee that you will get your first choice of countries, but it does increase your chances by a lot. Personally, the only country I wanted to go to was Spain, so I didn't put any back-ups, but it is strongly recommended that you put second and third choices.
Something that prospective AFSers should know is that, it is very normal to have them send your application back with mistakes or things about it that they want to be fixed. I think basically everyone has something on their application that they didn't get just right. I had to resubmit my application like three times. It is not a bad thing if they have revisions they want you to make, so don't think you did something terribly wrong when they send it back.
Shortly after I resubmitted my application for the billionth time, I got word from AFS that I had been accepted from AFS-USA and that they had sent it to Spain to get accepted there. They said that it would probably take about 4-6 weeks to get word from Spain about my acceptance. Very luckily for me, it took 10 days. I was stoked to get my acceptance so quickly.
So I started the visa process, which I'll probably make a post about months from now when I've finished everything.
Right now I'm just waiting on my placement and host family. I'm not fretting because most exchange students get their information in the summer, like June-ish. I just hope that I get mine early, especially my placement. I reaaaalllllyyyyy want to be in Madrid. I'm hoping to get placed in a Castilian-speaking area, and I really want to be put in a big urban city. I live in a suburban area here in the US, and I've always loved big cities, like New York, so Madrid seems perfect. I wouldn't really mind being placed in an area that speaks a second language, like the other regions, but I do think that it would make it harder, and I'm not sure I can test out of my Spanish classes at my natural school with those kinds of Spanish. But it's all good, because I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to Spain, so I'll be fine anywhere I'm placed.
One last thing for this post is the Facebook pages. These are a huge asset. They allow you to connect with other AFSers from around the world that are traveling around the world. Although it may seem that going on foreign exchange is kind of a solitary experience that you do on your own, you really are doing it with a bunch of other students. They may not be with you every day or even in your community, but some of them are going to the same country as you and basically all of them know what your going through; the excitement, the nervousness, the impatience and waiting, the list goes on and on. These young adults are doing the same thing as you and it's really great to be able to connect with other people like that. Usually within a few months of your departure date one of the kids from your country specific group, like this guy from the group of us going to Spain for the year this September, will make a country and circuit-specific group so it's only you guys. Like right now I'm in a Facebook group with about 25 other people that are all going to Spain next year, like me. They also have a Facebook page that I think is the official page for AFS-USA. They also have a group called Ask an AFSer where a bunch of people post stuff and ask and answer questions and comments; new students, prospective students, Returnees, the whole she-bang. I really like the Ask an AFSer group (plus they have a bunch of helpful information), so go visit the pages if you haven't already! Here are the links:
https://www.facebook.com/StudyAbroadAFSUSA?fref=ts (Study Abroad with AFS-USA)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/24932955872/ (Ask an AFSer)
Well guys I think that's it. Stay tuned for a new post, and thanks for reading!
Adios,
Sam
So I typed up a bunch of stuff and then accidentally deleted it so if I redo this and some it doesn't make sense, sorry.
Okay, so after I picked the Spanish year-long program, I researched a lot and then brought the information to my parents. I had sort of kind of talked to my parents about going to Spain on the summer program and they were already pretty much on board for me doing that. The switch from the summer program to the year program was really big for my parents. The biggest difference for them was obviously the change in price. (More on that in a minute.) Another thing that stood out for them was the difference in the program length. It went from being a six week thing to a ten month thing. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard for me to convince my parents to let me go for that long. Like I said, I'm independent, and my parents know I'll do fine on my own. Really the only things that concerned my parents was the price and the education.
Just so you know the price of the year long program in Spain is $13,750 (plus the $75 preliminary app, $200 fuel surcharge, all visa related costs, about $3,000 for recreation costs, AND all other related costs). The cost for the summer program was significantly less. I worked for weeks and weeks and weeks, thinking and rethinking, doing and redoing the numbers, so that I could work out a way that I could go on exchange. I have to give a huge thank you to my grandparents for giving me the opportunity to go. They promised that they would give me $7,000 dollars (roughly half) for the program. The fact that they were willing to take away half the cost made it possible for me to figure out numbers that satisfied both of my parents (they're divorced so it's a little harder than it sounds). Now, my grandparents are not actually going to pay $7,000 (my parents figured it out), and before I sound like a spoiled brat, I am working and contributing what I can for myself. Finally, I got the reluctant but reliable YES to go on foreign exchange.
Then started the application process. If you reading this because you're thinking of going on exchange, and have already submitted your preliminary application and are ready to start your full application, my big tip to you would be DON'T HESITATE. The entire thing takes longer than you think and it's always best to strive for the priority deadline, so get started right away. It ended up taking my administrators like three weeks to get me the papers I needed (that was sort of because she totally forgot about it but either way it took weeks). Also, the doctor's clearance took a while. I submitted my full application the day of the priority deadline. You should note that the priority deadline doesn't guarantee that you will get your first choice of countries, but it does increase your chances by a lot. Personally, the only country I wanted to go to was Spain, so I didn't put any back-ups, but it is strongly recommended that you put second and third choices.
Something that prospective AFSers should know is that, it is very normal to have them send your application back with mistakes or things about it that they want to be fixed. I think basically everyone has something on their application that they didn't get just right. I had to resubmit my application like three times. It is not a bad thing if they have revisions they want you to make, so don't think you did something terribly wrong when they send it back.
Shortly after I resubmitted my application for the billionth time, I got word from AFS that I had been accepted from AFS-USA and that they had sent it to Spain to get accepted there. They said that it would probably take about 4-6 weeks to get word from Spain about my acceptance. Very luckily for me, it took 10 days. I was stoked to get my acceptance so quickly.
So I started the visa process, which I'll probably make a post about months from now when I've finished everything.
Right now I'm just waiting on my placement and host family. I'm not fretting because most exchange students get their information in the summer, like June-ish. I just hope that I get mine early, especially my placement. I reaaaalllllyyyyy want to be in Madrid. I'm hoping to get placed in a Castilian-speaking area, and I really want to be put in a big urban city. I live in a suburban area here in the US, and I've always loved big cities, like New York, so Madrid seems perfect. I wouldn't really mind being placed in an area that speaks a second language, like the other regions, but I do think that it would make it harder, and I'm not sure I can test out of my Spanish classes at my natural school with those kinds of Spanish. But it's all good, because I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to Spain, so I'll be fine anywhere I'm placed.
One last thing for this post is the Facebook pages. These are a huge asset. They allow you to connect with other AFSers from around the world that are traveling around the world. Although it may seem that going on foreign exchange is kind of a solitary experience that you do on your own, you really are doing it with a bunch of other students. They may not be with you every day or even in your community, but some of them are going to the same country as you and basically all of them know what your going through; the excitement, the nervousness, the impatience and waiting, the list goes on and on. These young adults are doing the same thing as you and it's really great to be able to connect with other people like that. Usually within a few months of your departure date one of the kids from your country specific group, like this guy from the group of us going to Spain for the year this September, will make a country and circuit-specific group so it's only you guys. Like right now I'm in a Facebook group with about 25 other people that are all going to Spain next year, like me. They also have a Facebook page that I think is the official page for AFS-USA. They also have a group called Ask an AFSer where a bunch of people post stuff and ask and answer questions and comments; new students, prospective students, Returnees, the whole she-bang. I really like the Ask an AFSer group (plus they have a bunch of helpful information), so go visit the pages if you haven't already! Here are the links:
https://www.facebook.com/StudyAbroadAFSUSA?fref=ts (Study Abroad with AFS-USA)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/24932955872/ (Ask an AFSer)
Well guys I think that's it. Stay tuned for a new post, and thanks for reading!
Adios,
Sam
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