AFS Intercultural Programs: High School Abroad in Germany

I learned so much during my year abroad in Germany. I had a great host family and experience in Berlin. I made so many international friends and connections in Germany. It is an eye-opening experience that I believe everyone should partake in.

I went abroad during my junior year of high school and had the time of my life! I was matched perfectly with my host family, and really enjoyed the city that I lived in. AFS was really great in matching me with a family that best supported my needs, and matched my personality best. I became fluent in the language and made several friends that I still talk to now, even after being back in my home country for over 6 months. I think this is such a unique study abroad experience because you see how Germans live their daily lives, and you become one of them. Although I had doubts and was scared at first, I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. If you are wondering about doing this program, I would 100% recommend you to!

I was a CBYX student with AFS. The volunteers made my arrival in Germany so easy and were always willing to help. I grew so much over the year, I’m very grateful for the experience. The friends and family I made during my exchange year are so important to me.

My time in Germany presented many challenges, from switching host families three times to learning to be more independent, but every one of those challenges allowed me to grow as an individual! With the support of AFS USA and AFS Germany, my family back home, and the wonderful people in Germany, I was able to overcome these challenges and have the time of my life.

I was in AFS Germany, from 2011-2012. There were lots of social activities to do, the coordinators seemed to care about us, and we felt really safe. However, I wish counseling was an option with AFS at the time, to deal with the emotions one has during their stay in another country, and that they took mental health more seriously. I was being bullied in my host family and asked multiple times to be moved to another family, but nothing came of it other than telling my host family what I said, which made everything worse. Other than the host family issue, the school and program do take care of you, and ensure your safety.

On my exchange I definitely learned a lot of French in addition to learning more about French culture. However, one of the most important things I gained from my AFS experience was a better understanding of myself, which is something I didn't expect. I became a lot more independent and self-sufficient as well as making tons of amazing friends from all over the world. My AFS region in France was just an amazing support system for me. I made so many friends, and I don't think I could have made it through my time without both the other hosted kids as well as our returnee contacts.

Overall, I had a great year. I met many incredible friends and got to travel across Germany. The bureaucracy of AFS, however, made it very impossible to travel with anyone outside of my host family and I had to turn down a lot of cool opportunities. My host family was ok, I had a lot of fun with my host sibling and my host dad, but my host mom never liked me and rarely talked with me. They told me it wasn't her idea to have an exchange student and for the entire year I felt like she didn't want me to be there. I had gone through a lot of training about host family life but it seemed like they didn't go through any training about having an exchange student. I spent a lot of money on food because my school schedule and their meal schedule didn't line up and they weren't willing to compromise. They blamed me for not making friends at school even though I tried very hard. I did have a lot of fun throughout the year, especially when we got to see new things and during the Christmas market that I got to see in Berlin. One issue however is that my host family spoke english to me almost explicitly throughout the year even though I kept saying and saying for them to speak German, and it cost me a lot of language skills I could've had. They said they wanted an exchange student to learn english, not just for me to learn German and blamed me for being selfish that I wanted to hear only German. They were speaking english up to the day I left, where they didn't seem sad to see me leave. Other than some of these issues, it may not seem like it but I met a lot of cool people from my program that I am hopefully going to be friends for live with. The AFS volunteers in Germany were the worst, multiple made my friends uncomfortable and were creepy and younger than people and offered terrible advice, mine was very nice but she only met with me twice in the year and didn't have any answers to questions I had. Every time I needed AFS's help my liaison didn't know the answer and AFS wouldn't respond to my emails.