Have any of you been an exchange student?

Or ever been a host family to any exchange student?

Or ever had exchange student friends?

Let's talk!!

and Please don't forget to put your information like this.

Quote:

Which exchange program you related to? What's your relationship? From/to what country? When?

And let's talk about your experience and some kind of cultural shocked thingy, or if any of you are interested in being an exchange student please feel free asking!!!

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I'll first start with my own experience.

Which exchange program you related to?
- I'm solely AFSer!! and now is CIEE.
What's your relationship?
- I was an exchange student for 1 year program, and also was a host family for 3 month program. Now I'm on Work&travel program.
From/to what country?
- I went to Denmark, and was a host family for a girl from Japan. And my current exchange program is in USA.
When?
- As exchange student, from August 2002-June2003. As a host family from August 2002-October2002 (So I met her only 1 week and left her to stay with my parents.) Work&Travel for 3 months.(present)

Denmark as some of you know, is very open-minded about sex..aka free-sex. I was shocked enough seeing my host parents did their deep kisses in front of me, or even saw someone did the sex activities in the concerts or in the party!! But the country is really nice and safe, I had never seen the police office until my very last day I found it in the big town. We didn't have to lock the house door, and never heard the sound of the siren.

but I also had such hard time with my first host family so I asked for changing. And i ended up moving to 5 families in total!!! = ="

But everything was fun and very fine, I had the best moments with my friends and families, and my host family just came to visit me in Thailand this February and My parents and my danish family went for a trip to Laos together. It's very funny to see how they could communicate since my parents don't speak ENglish!!! XDDD



Ok, mine is the example, so let's share your experience too!!!!

Which exchange program you related to?
AFS!!!!

What's your relationship?
I'm an exchange student going to Japan this summer for 2 months. And my fmaily is going to be a liaision for any exchange student in my area.

From/to what country?
From USA to Japan XD

When?
This summer. From late June to mid August. I'm so excited XD

wow!its great 4 u to have an experience like that..i'm also will undergo exchange student program to japan for my practical nweek..cant wait to go..

i've never been an exchange student myself, but i had a language course of two weeks in Spain (via EF). if i go to university this year, i'll probably try to get a scolarship so i could go to Japan as an exchange student next year

i've had many exchange student friends, one of them was my best friend. she was the first Japanese person i've ever met and i was really happy to have a friend like her. since she wanted to learn Finnish, we never spoke anything else than Finnish and she became REALLY good at it. it was hard for me when she left back to Japan in last June, but i was sure we'd meet again. so.. six months later i went to Japan to meet her

I'm practically stealing Jess' reply:
Which exchange program you related to?
AFS!

What's your relationship?
I'm an exchange student going to Japan this summer for 2 months.

From/to what country?
From USA to Japan

When?
This summer. From June 26 to August 6. I can't wait!

Which exchange program you related to?
Well, it was a school study tour My school has a sister school in Nagoya, Japan, so every year we either host or visit!

What's your relationship?
I went on exchange/study tour for 3 weeks last year! It was AWESOME!!
I also stayed with my host sister, whom I had hosted the year before (2006).
And in 2 months time I'm hosting again!! Same school program, but a new girl of course SUPER EXCITED BECAUSE SHE IS A MASSIVE ARASHI FAN!! My parents are preparing themselves for 3 weeks of non-stop fangirling and arashi blasting from the stereo
From/to what country?
From and to Japan

When?
Ah...kind of answered this above

If I get accepted, I will be an exchange student in Waseda for the 09/10 semester. (I hope I'll get to see the end of the ten years Arashi celebrations!)
This was organised directly by my German university, who is partners with Waseda, Keio (where Sho was- if I'd known this before, it would have been my first choice and not my second. XDDD), Todai...

Which exchange program you related to?
- none that is known to the world actually... haha. i was a private school student, so we had exchange students programme with a school in thailand. i was one of the first few students selected for the programme.

What's your relationship?
- Well, it wasn't that long actually, just a month plus. i stayed with a family in bangkok, go to the school and such. the year after that, my family was the host for one of the thai students.

From/to what country?
- I went to thailand, and was a host for a student from Thailand.

When?
- an exchange student in 2003, as a host in 2004.

my experience as an exchange student... hurmm... i think, everything appeared as a shock to me, not the thai culture, more of the school culture. since the school that i went to in thai is an elite all-boys school, and i am a girl. so everything was different. the boys had to adjust a few things to accommodate me. it was pretty funny tho... hahaha... and i think, the whole thing of being one of the only three (there were three girls in the programme) girls in the whole school, and having a lot of guy friends, was pretty new to me... but i am glad that i joined the programmed. i get to meet a lot of people!

Haha it was fun reading everyone's experience. It is precious.

Which exchange program you related to?
MI-Koyo High School exchange trip.

What's your relationship?
I was in year 2 when I went for the exchange trip while my host was a year 1 student. It was a really awesome experience and I really wished I could have stayed longer. Another major plus point was that one of my favourite brands, Baby the stars shine bright had a store there and I could buy lolita items. When my host graduates in year 3, she will be coming over to Singapore but by then I would have graduated from my school, but I'll definitely see her again.

There was a language barrier between us, I knew minimum japanese. My host was also learning chinese and I taught her some basic phrases. Lol, the first word they taught all of us was "daijoubu".

The hospitality I recieved was really great. It was very touching. And I love the food: ramen~

From/to what country?
Singapore to Okinawa.

When?
2007 It was less then a week sadly. But I should be retutning to Okinawa after I graduate.

Ah, I've sent the pre-app for AFS but I'm not sure when I can go. Maybe this coming summer?

I'm sending in my applications for the 09/10 year at either Keio or Waseda. I've been working my butt off to get this exchange, so hopefully it goes through!

Yurippe, maybe we'll be classmates

My room mate did an exchange right after high school in Hokkaido through the Rotary club for just under a year. She had the time of her life!

OOH COOL!!! Yeah I just sent in my full Application to AFS like last week i am going to see if i can win this scholarship and if I get it i will go!!!! but if i dont win it I wont go so yeah....I havent found out if i won it yet...itll still be like 2 weeks till i find out.....and if i win it i wil go to Japan for a year!!!!! I can't believe it!!!! Im going to be SOOOO happy if i go!!! I swear the day I sent in the Full-App i was dying of nervousness...*sigh* Im SOOO nervous right now!!!

Hi everyone

Exchange Program:
As Exchange Student: GOPIO (Global Organisation Of Peole Of Indian Origin)
As Host: Rotary

Relatonship:
As Exchange Student: It was a 2 week group study exchange for kids age 10-17 (I went in a group of 8 girls and 1 boy)
As Host: She was a 17 year old girl on a one year exchange, my family hosted her for 4 months and a few weeks on and off when her other hosts were busy

Country:
As Exchange Student: South Africa (Durban)
As Host: Japan

When:
As Exchange Student: Last two weeks of December 1998
As Host: July 1998 to October 1998

Both the exchange trips happened around the same time, lol. My exchange trip to South Africa was a shock in itself, because i only knew about it 2 weeks prior to departure, haha. Thank goodness my passport was not expired. Got signed up for by my uncle, to accompany his daughter, so i dont know much about the organisation itself. The exchange itself was okay, too short in my opinion! I never regarded it as a real exchange program, because all we did was sightseeing, didnt realy learn anything. I was itching to go for a Rotary one to Brazil (1 year), when I was 17, but my parents didn't allow me to, because I already went for the South Africa one...

The exchange student from Japan was a gem! She was very polite, kind, attentive, and never complained! I have to admit my interest in Japan and its culture was brought about by this girl. She enjoyed going to school, and this cannot be said by alot of Malaysian kids. Her English was not very good, and all her school mates would pitch in and help her (it was a small private school). At home, she would join my 6 year old sister in doing her kindergarten homework, lol! Now she's an English teacher in Japan! She wanted to introduce me to J-Pop once, and gave me a Hirai Ken CD, and being the brat i was (age 14), i returned it to her! Only now i realize what a mistake that was... The exchange was so long ago, and amazingly she and her family constanty keep in touch with us, even if we dont. Very nice people....