Step 1: Google
Originally (this was back in 6th grade, which should tell you how long I've been obsessed with studying abroad) all I knew was that sometime in high school, I wanted to spend as long as I could living in a Spanish-speaking country. So I turned on my computer and Googled study abroad in high school. The results that came up were intimidating. 50,000,000 results in 30 seconds. AIFS, Student Travel, AFS, StudyAbroad, CIEE, LPI, Greenheart, Quest, Rotary. But, with free time at hand (or possibly, not-so-free time- I probably skipped doing my chores) I dutifully went to each website and wrote down all pertinent information in my notebook. This resulted in a mass of information that, when shown to my mother, seemed to make her reconsider her thought that I was just kidding about this study abroad thing. With all this information at my disposal, I spent the next four years deliberating about what exactly I wanted to do. By the end of my freshman year of high school, I was fairly certain that AFS was the program I would apply to.
Step 2: Parental Permission
This is a key step to the process. It's very hard to leave your home for between six and eleven months as a teenager without your parents' support. Luckily, they agreed.
Step 3: Country
Some people know exactly where they want to go. Others have a more oh I'll just apply to wherever sounds the coolest attitude. I wanted to go somewhere where I could become fluent in Spanish. That narrows the number of countries down to a dozen or so. Within that amount, some were ruled out by my parents because of the safety factor (my mom didn't like the idea of me in Mexico with the drug wars, wonder why...). Then I researched all the remaining countries and found that the ones I liked the most were Chile, Costa Rica, and Argentina. (Chile ended up being my first choice because there are a ton of people I know that have gone to Chile and loved it. And, let's face it, Chile is an amazing country.)
Step 4: Application
I started applying to AFS in February of 2013. (The way to do this is first attend an online info session then use the discount code you get from that on your preliminary application fee. The prelim. application is just stuff like your name, address, and GPA. Then you get an access portal to the full application.) The application took me awhile, just because I didn't feel the need to rush through it and it's a lot to fill out. The application consists of: cover picture, personal information, placement information, health forms, self introduction, photos, parent statement, academic record, participation agreement, consent, letter of recommendation, and a scan of your passport. I submitted the whole thing in May and a week or two later received an email that there were a few things I needed to correct- my health forms didn't state my respiratory rate, my transcript didn't have an official school seal, etc.
Step 5: In-Home Interview
One of the parts of the AFS application process is the In-Home Interview. Basically, an AFS volunteer in your area comes to your house for an hour or so to talk to you about your possible study abroad trip. They ask you lots of questions about your life and tell you a bunch of things you'll need to know in the next couple months. I was insanely nervous about this, but it's really not that big a deal. I did this in July. A week or so later, I received an email from AFS that my full application had been received and was under review (they don't consider the application completed until the interview happens).
Step 6A: Acceptance
In August, I got an email from AFS-USA stating that I had been accepted (yay!!!) and my application was being sent to AFS-Chile so that they could review it and accept/reject it.
Step 6B: Acceptance
In the beginning of October, AFS-USA told me that AFS-Chile had started reviewing my application and had a few clarifying questions for me. A week later, I was accepted and officially going to Chile!
Step 7 (the last one): Placement
Now that it had been determined that I was going to be setting off for Chile in February, the only remaining question was where in Chile was I going? Being accepted into AFS-Chile meant that I would definitely have a Chilean host family and attend a Chilean school, but it didn't tell me anything about where in the country. And, let me tell you, Chile is a very long country and it is nearly impossible to prepare to live there when you don't know where you're going to live. I could end up anywhere from the Atacama desert in the north to the enormous metropolitan capital, Santiago, to Patagonia in the south.
In the beginning of January, I opened my email to find an email labeled "AFS: Your Permanent Host Family Placement". Even before opening it, I was jumping up and down. It was a link to my AFS access portal and the new information contained within: the name of the town and my host family. I would be living in Puerto Natales, in the far south of Chile, in Patagonia. I had a host father who worked for the army, a host mother who was an accountant, a 16-year-old host brother, a 13-year-old host sister, and 5-year-old host brother. A week later, I got a similar email with the information about my school, a private Christian school (this is a really common type of school in Chile) that I would be going to along with all my siblings (it's kindergarten through high school).
A really long journey to where I am today, but definitely worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment