Blogging while abroad

When I went abroad in high school, I kept a journal, written in pen on paper. Twenty-six years later, most high school students will opt for the digital version of recording their experiences. While posting on Facebook is a less popular option for high schoolers these days, keeping a blog is actively encouraged by the different high school study abroad programs. Most programs have a webpage with links to students who are currently blogging about their experiences. Check out the YFU, AFS, and CIEE webpages with blog links.

Why blog while abroad?

The benefits of blogging while abroad are numerous. Besides posting pictures and efficiently sharing their experiences with family and friends, students have an online account of what they are doing. All of the posts are more condensed and organized than on Facebook, which is often clogged with advertisements and only accessible to “friends.” A blog is accessible to anyone who can find it.

A word of caution

Keep in mind a blog is also accessible to the program staff and your child’s host family. A blog is not the place to air grievances or blow off steam. A staff person does monitor those blogs, and your child will be asked to take down any posts that may be seen as offensive or critical. My daughter’s friend changed host families after just two weeks; her post merely stated that she was glad that, –if they were going to ask her to leave - they had asked “sooner rather than later.” The host family saw the post, reported it, and she was asked to take it down.

We did send a paper journal with my daughter, but the intention was more for her to have a place to put her paper “souvenirs” (like movie theater tickets and concert programs) than for her to write down her experiences. She shared the other day that she regrets not blogging during this year, but she also questioned if she would have had the time anyway. You will notice many of the students start their blogs (with good intentions, I’m sure) during those first exciting weeks, and after a few posts, there is nothing.

At the very least, take some time to read a few of the more complete blogs from previous years with your child before he/she leaves and discuss the possibility of recording his/her experience on a blog. 

Program Options: Sister Cities and States

Sister State exchange programs

One frequently under-advertised option for high school study abroad is through sister city or sister state programs. Many cities and states across America have agreements with multiple cities and states in other countries for mutually beneficial exchange programs at all levels. Sometimes, delegations simply visit to promote tourism or cross-cultural understanding. Teachers visit and often teach at a sister school. Colleges have agreements pertaining to semester or year-abroad programs. High school students can experience short edu-tourism trips or extended study abroad opportunities. Since these extended study abroad opportunities are often one-to-one exchanges (your child lives with a family who then sends their child to your house) and supplemented through the sister cities (or states) program, the price for these experiences can be a real steal.

One such program I recently found out about is the Wisconsin-Hessen Exchange Program. Wisconsin and Hessen are sister states and offer many of the exchange possibilities listed previously. If your family lives in Wisconsin and your child has had some German language training (German II or higher), this option may be ideal.

The basics

The cost is $450 + airfare to Frankfurt. Students have to provide their own spending money, but the program provides a monthly allowance during their stay.

This program is a one-to-one exchange. A German student will live with your family from September through January. Your child will live with that German family from February through April. The website says that the “stay may be extended if all parties agree,” an option that is not available through most high school study abroad programs.

Students must be at least sophomores during the year of their exchange.

Your child will receive academic credit as determined by local school district policies.

The Department of Education in the sister states provides the staffing support.

The application process

The application is four pages (the shortest I have ever seen) and could probably be filled out in a few hours. No teacher recommendations are required, but your child will need signatures from a few school personnel, including his/her German teacher. Applications are due in mid-February of the year the exchange would start.

Students will be notified in April if they have been accepted.

Overall impression

The family I spoke with had a daughter participate in this program several years ago. After being accepted to the program, they had to travel to Madison, WI, for orientation with the other participants. The director of the program was helpful and accessible throughout the year. In their opinion, one of the strengths of the program is that the hosting family has a significant investment in the visiting child’s stay because their child will be staying with the other family. Their daughter and the German exchange “sister” became very close. She considers her host family to be her German “family” and stayed with them frequently when she studied in Germany again during college. 

Other states

Finding these types of programs requires a bit more digging than the highly publicized options. Start by searching your state’s Department of Public Instruction website for high school exchange programs.

Program option: AFS-USA

Program Options: AFS-USA

The majority of our family’s experience has been with RotaryYouth Exchange, NSLI-Y, and Youth For Understanding (YFU). A few other organizations dominate the high school exchange programming in America. Two of these programs are the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) and AFS-USA. Since I don’t have personal experience as a mom with these organizations, I interviewed a mother whose daughter is in Austria through AFS-USA. She graciously answered my questions about her daughter’s experience with AFS-USA.

The Basics

AFS-USA is a non-profit organization formerly known as the American Field Service. They have been exchanging students internationally for over 70 years and offer programs in over 40 countries.

Program duration varies from 2 weeks to one year, including summer, one-semester, and one-year options.

The cost varies depending on the destination, but one year (2017-2018) is about $15,000, which includes airfare, placement with a host family, secondary medical insurance, and pre-departure orientation.

Airfare is from assigned “departure cities,” and families will need to cover the cost of transportation to that departure city.

Students live with a host family in most of the programs.

The Application Process

The application process differs greatly depending on if your child is applying for a scholarship or not. AFS-USA administers many generous scholarships, including the fully paid year in Germany through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) in some regions of the USA. Application deadlines will be much earlier if your child is applying for these scholarships. Additionally, AFS-USA places students on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier your child applies, the more likely he/she is to get his/her first choice destination.

According to the AFS-USA website, the application can take 2-3 weeks to fill out, but they also say your child could “plow through” in as little as 48 hours if super-motivated. The mother I spoke with recalled that her daughter had to provide her high school transcripts, write several essays, submit pictures, request two teacher recommendations, have a dental and physical exam (which included mental health screening), and complete an interview at home that included a home visit in which one parent must be present. They had to provide a secondary physical “sign-off” from her doctor a few weeks before leaving that stated there had been no changes to her physical or mental health.

Their Overall Impression

AFS-USA has a central office staffed professionally and local chapters staffed by volunteers. This mother found the program to be very organized and efficient. She felt they received helpful information in a timely manner. Compared to my daughter’s orientation with YFU, I was astounded at the amount of information they were given and how standardized the experience would be across all regional chapters of the organization. AFS-USA participants do not seem to be nearly as dependent on the quality of volunteers as we were with YFU. 

AFS-USA sent a pdf of the orientation booklet for both parents and participants. The staff used this booklet during their pre-departure orientation as a workbook and resource. During the pre-departure orientation, several presentations were made to families, and then parents and students divided for separate activities. Parents were given adequate time to ask questions, and they received quality, helpful information. Additionally, the daughter had to complete several online “Culture Trek training modules” before her departure date. Finally, she participated in a day and a half orientation in New York before flying to Austria.

This family has been less impressed with the level of support their daughter has received in Austria. There was some tension with the host family, and the daughter did not feel she could confide in the assigned liaison. Whereas we were not impressed by our local YFU organization, my daughter’s liaison in Germany has been supportive. This situation illustrates what I suspected before; you can’t predict your child’s experience based on the quality of your program’s local organization.