Customer Reviews

Youth Exchanges: The Complete Guide to the Homestay Experience Abroad

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I bought this book when I was interested in a cultural exchange my sophomore year. Unfortunately, I applied to late and wasn't able to go. This book has a nice introductory section on the history of travelling academics, though it was not insightful enough, with enough original source material, or with enought facinating details to capture my interest and encourage me to think differently, or more profoundly about the exchange experience. Stories of how people should expect to feel emotionally in the exchange process are useful. I found though, that chapters like "Should You Go? A Self-Test Questionaire" asked questions like "Have you shown interest before in other countries and other cultures?", "Do you speak other languages, or have you decided to take language courses in high school?" or "Do you consider yourself to be self-confident? How do you handle situations that require strong self control?" to be mostly useless. I knew beforehand why I wanted to go on an exchange -- to experience a new land and culture. A surprising portion of the book raises questions that I had already answered, and found them irritating.

Next to NONE of the information provided in this book is still accurate! The programs have changed!

This book is great! I could have used this book when I was going abroad for a year when I was in high school. I work at a foreign exchange program and I read this book as research for what is out there, and I have to say this book was great! Anyone contemplating going abroad needs a copy of this book!