American Field Service - AFS

AFS is a field service that helps students to go on a student exchange program.. In this program you can choose to stay for 2 months or a year but it also depends on the country you pick. Some countries that you pick such as Italy and France, you would only be able to go to that country in June or July.

During this period there will be students from different countries also coming together for this student exchange program...The process goes like this...
First you must apply to this student exchange program by getting a form online
Next, once you have applied wait for the mail to come to say if you were chosen to go for an interview. If you were selected then you must go for an interview and you will be interviewed by 3 people.
After that, if you were selected you will get a letter stating when is the post departure camp
Last but not least once everything is settled you will receive a letter and information or profile on your host family and where you will be living...
In my case, I went to Leverkusen, Germany.

  Clockwise: Kai (Australia), Tom (New Zealand)  and me

The AFS students from all over the world who were at Cologne

It was a once in a life time experience and I would do it all over again...I made friends from all over the world. Once in Germany, we will be staying with a host family. The host family would be like your own family. My host family had 7 people which means I had 5 siblings and I was the eldest among them. It was a big difference being the eldest when I am the youngest in my family in Malaysia. Once you are living with this host family you become apart of their family. Some of the host parents would ask the students to call them "Dad" and "Mom" because the students are now their adopted children.

My host mum

My host dad

Three of my host siblings

Going for this student exchange does not mean it is a year of holiday. We actually have to live a life of a student in that country which means we do have to go to high school. Usually participant who are chosen for the year program are students (Malaysia) who have finished their high school which means 18 year old students.The school that I went to didnt have any gates, there are no school uniforms and the students could go back and come back if they do not have a subject at that time so it is not like the schools we have here in Malaysia. The students there were very polite and kind. We also had to go for an intensive language school which means we had to go everyday for a month and by the end of the year we were all able to speak almost fluently...

My German friends

My German Friends

       













The only advice that we anyone of you if you want to go  for a student exchange program is to not keep to yourself and try to blend in with not only your student exchange friends but also your german school friends so that life would be a little less harder there. Of course you will be experiencing home sickness but after a while it will be fine and to be honest in this year i felt more matured then ever (because 18 years old was considered an adult in Germany) so I prioritized what is important and thats when I felt myself maturing. Until today I have not regretted that experience and I wish I could go through that again because I made 2 best friends and a few close friends...
So come and join AFS!

My 2 best friends in Germany until now....

 
By Sharyl Andrea Stephen