Every summer, thousands of AFS students spend one to three months living in a foreign country. They are fully immersed in their new culture and get involved in educational, family and community activities.
Other AFS students spend longer periods of time in foreign countries: a trimester, a semester or a full academic year. They live in host families and attend school full time in their host country.
People who are 18 or older can join AFS's Community Service program in one of 20 countries. They participate in service projects, such as helping impoverished children.
Inside and outside the United States, families volunteer to host AFS participants. They do so not for the compensation--there is none--but out of a simple wish to open their home to a foreign exchange student.
AFS participants and everyone they come into contact with in their host countries, from their schoolmates to their host families, learn about each other's language, traditions, arts, geography and history. They come to understand not just how their countries' cultures differ but also how they are similar.
