AFS Intercultural Programs: High School Abroad in Italy

The experience was decent. It wasn’t the greatest for me because of some personal complications and I didn’t love my location. Overall I have no problems with AFS, although me and the other students in my area didn’t not like Intercultural because there were several occasions of them breaking rules and not helping the students when needed.

I had been sent home for something out of my control and was blamed for it, I also had talked to my tutor about the racial abuse I was facing and the constant harassment from others. I was called many bad things especially comments on my skin color. My tutor blamed me for looking different and told me I shouldn’t be me. I was also threatened with guns and knives while I was out. Many times I was harassed and almost assaulted on multiple occasions. Then the school asked for me to pay for a trip then AFS chose to send me home where I still have not received my refund for the trip

AFS is a great organization to study abroad with in high school, and not obscenely expensive. Host families are entirely volunteer, so they usually are super excited and looking forward to hosting an exchange student. My host family was great, and I still keep in contact with them 3 years later! I made some of the best friends through AFS. Starting with a pre-departure orientation in the US, orientations in Italy, and usually the placement of multiple other exchange students in your high school, you'll make the best friends you could wish for! I had a full language immersion with AFS, and left Italy conversationally proficient in Italian. Most students had tutoring through AFS while in Italy, but my tutoring fell through, so I had to learn most of it on my own. I would say that was the only drawback to my AFS program! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! If you are able, study abroad in high school!!! It's such a great experience, and it really will change the way you see the world, especially at such a young age. DO IT! Check out my blog for more info on my exchange: www.leahsharabyabroad.blogspot.com

My most memorable experience is living with my host family, and getting to eat lunch with them, as a family every day after school. In the south of Italy they even let classes out at 1 pm so that you can go home to have lunch with your family. Italy was great! The people, food, and culture is fascinating. I had my own small bedroom in a house with my two host parents, and 2 host sisters. We all shared one bathroom, which got difficult at times with two other sisters because everyone seemed to always need the bathroom to shower, or do their hair, etc., but if you stay respectful, there will be no problems. Sometimes you will share a bedroom with host siblings, but it should not be a problem.

AFS in Italy was the best year of my life. They place you with host families anywhere in the country, and I was placed in a suburban town in the south. It was one of the best places to be, because I was really forced to immerse myself in the culture, as I was the only international student in my area. They carefully choose the host families, and the Italians I lived with were some of the most generous and kind people I know. This program changed me as a person, and although there were tough moments, because of the language barrier, homesickness, etc., it was definitely worth it! The AFS office in central Rome and in the Northern parts of Italy were definitely more helpful than my local office. Make sure that you reach out to AFS with any problems, and continue to contact them until the problem is solved, because they will solve it, but sometimes they need to be sure that you're serious! School in Italy was tough, because at the beginning none of the teachers paid attention to me because they assumed I couldn't understand anything. But as you become accostomed to the language and classroom and make sure to apply yourself youll be fine. Overall, in one year I had both great times and awful times, but it was 100% worth it and I'd definitely reccomend it to anyone interested in studying abroad!

Amazing!! AFS does an amazing job at covering all the bases and making sure students have the greatest experience.