Lately at my school, we have been having a bunch of foreign exchange students come recently. One from Sweden, one from Switzerland, and one from Brazil. It’s a rather cool idea, so lately I’ve been wondering, how can I become one. Is there some group that does it? Any fees to pay? Forms to fill out?
Check out Youth for Understanding, which is one of the major organizations for doing foreign exchanges all around the world. There will be some costs involved, but there are also scholarship/grant opportunities you can look into.
This doesn’t directly answer your question, but please make sure you pay attention to the political stability and domestic security of the country you “foreign exchange” to.
If you’re an American, please remember that Americans are intensely disliked by many persons overseas. I’m not sure if I’d be stretching it if I said “intensely disliked by most persons overseas.”
That being said, good luck, and I hope you learn a great deal in school, wherever you go.
Don’t make it all sound so scary. Europeans don’t hate all americans. Not yet at least. I’m going to Germany for a year in May, so don’t worry. Just tell them that you don’t like Bush and are against the war, and they’ll either:
a) realize its no point in arguing with you
or
b) Feel sorry for you.
However, if you want to go over there and find some sympathy for the pro-war cause you won’t make many friends.
BTW, this is for Europe. I suppose you wanted to go there, right?
I don’t know if you are in college or high-school. If you are in a university, just go to you local study abroad coordinator at the Univ. They’ll hook you up. I would reccomend an exchange rather than a program. Programs enroll you in the foreign university for usually no less than 7,000$ a semester, while with exchanges like ISEP, or an individual university to university exchange only require you to pay tuition and other costs at your school.
If you are in highschool, I don’t know. I guess talk to the guidance councilor
I wouldn’t worry about people in most mainstream exchange-type places, or even some not-so-mainstream ones, picking on you because you’re an American. (On the other hand, I don’t think I’d want to go to the Middle East right now, either.) What kind of place did you have in mind?
Eva Luna, Madrid '888, USSR '89, Siberia '95
If your own school can’t help you, the CIEE might be a good place to start looking.
I came to Japan as a Rotary exchange student for a year. Ask your local Rotary club for details. Your parents don’t have to be members, but the selection process can be pretty strict depending on your area.
CIEE sponsored both my Russia programs! They have been around for a long time and have programs all over the world.
My experience is that going abroad, either with an exchange program or as a “free rider” is surprisingly easy: find money, find a place and go, things will work out. The caveat is that, in my case “abroad” only includes only the western world. Doesn’t mean it is more difficult elsewhere, I just don’t know.
Most people are friendly to visitors from other countries. Hey, at least you’re interested in their country, so why wouldn’t they. So I wouldn’t worry to much about encountering intense dislike. But then again, I’m not an American. I do welcome them though when they visit 
Martijn (Dublin 99, Stockholm 02, US 03-now)
I went to Brasil from the US during my junior year of HS. I found it to be an extremely rewarding experience. There are many different programs out there. Some are for profit, some are non-profit.
I can’t say a whole lot about the others, but I went with Rotart International. It was a great program with lots of support before, during, and even after the trip. My local club even helped pick up some of the costs. (If you really want to do it, start saving now!)
If you want some more information, e-mail me. I still know a few people involved in the Rotary Program, and might be able to get you some local info.
I wanted to go abroad in high school desperately. For financial reasons, it was impossible. So I made up my mind to go in college, because I reasoned since I’d already be paying for school, it wouldn’t be a significant difference. Rather amazingly, my rationale actually contained logic, and I did my third year of college (1998-1999) in Jerusalem, Israel. It was a little more expensive than staying in the US would have been, mostly because of the airfare and the trips to Europe and Egypt, but it was worth every penny. And then some.
If you go to a private college or university, you may find that studying abroad is cheaper than staying in the US. I went to the University of California, Santa Cruz, and my fees at home and in Israel were pretty comparable, but my best friend in Israel went to Washington University in St. Louis, and her year abroad was at least half the cost of a year in St. Louis would have been, even after you throw in airfare and the two trips to Europe and two trips to Egypt she took during the year.
I found that my semester in Spain was cheaper than it would have been to stay in NYC; all my financial aid applied toward program costs, and the tuition and living expenses were somewhat cheaper, so I actually came out ahead (even in spite of not being able to work in Spain) and had to take out less in student loans than I would have if I’d stayed in NYC.
For high school students, I second the recommendation to look into the Rotary progream. It’s excellent and inexpensive, if selective. As with Whatami, I went to Brazil with Rotary. Though it varies from destination to destination, one of the great aspects of the Rotary program is the support you get locally, and the opportunities to travel. When I was in Brazil (1994-95), there were four organized trips, 3 that were about a week long, and a one month long tour of the Northeast. Lots of exchange students getting together and travelling about their host country, truly a wonderful experience.
Eva’s point about the cost of university exchanges is a good one, as well. I was supposed to go to Portugal for a semestre, and after doing all the calculations, determined that it would cost me about half as much to spend the semestre in Portugal as in Toronto. I didn’t go because of medical reasons, but it would have actually been cheaper if I had.
I volunteered in the International Office of my university for awhile, and they are definitely the place to start if you’re a college student. They’ll have official exchange programs with a variety of foreign schools, and you’ll be able to get lots of details on local culture, costs, courses, etc, because the schools send each other massive packages of information each year. They’ll also be able to help guide you to information on schools that they don’t maintain official programs with.