I am a freshman in high school and I'm from the United States. I wanted to be a foreign exchange student since the seventh grade. I was too nervous to ask my parents but recently I am thinking about talking to them about it. I am in the marching band in high school and I have made many friends through the experience. My family does not have a lot of money. I love to travel but I have only been around my state and Central America when I was little. I love to learn languages and I want to do linguistics in the future as a job. I want to be a foreign exchange student in my junior year of high school and for a year. I was thinking about going to Spain or Japan because I have been learning Spanish and Japanese for awhile. I was leaning more toward Japan because I could practice my Japanese with natives and get a bigger culture shock. I like other countries like Italy, South Korea, China, or Germany as well. I am hesitant because I would have trouble leaving my good friends and family. My family has also been talking about travel to Italy when I graduate high school and I am worried that going on exchange would ruin that. I am also a AP student and I am worried that leaving would ruin college's interest in me. I know you may think that if I am worried about it too much that I shouldn't do it but I really want to. I am a nervous person and shy but I love talking to people from other countries and sharing experiences. I have money in savings and I am willing to work to raise money for this trip. Thank you for reading and please reply and ask questions if you have any :)
Should I Be A Foreign Exchange Student? (please read and answer)?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by RoseAgate
- Topics:
- spanish, japanese, language, united states, high school, exchange students
Responses (1)
Hi, I am a Japanese from Japan and I have lived in Japan for all my life except for the year I spent in California. I was an exchange student when I was 17 and it was wonderful to spend a year in California. Not only because I learned a lot of English, but also the whole experience was great. I learned the whole different point of view and it has had a huge influence on my life.
To answer your question, my family was not rich at all when I was an exchange student, but I remember it didn't cost that much. I stayed at my host family's and they fed me. I didn't need to pay for my room and food. Now that yen is weak against dollar, it may be a good time for you to live in Japan. You should definitely go somewhere as an exchange student. I'm sure the college would rather have more interest in you after your exchange years. Good friends will stay being good friends if they are real good friends.