12th grader, thinking about going to a Spanish speaking country as an exchange student, thoughts?

Question

So right now i am in 10th grade, and i was thinking of going (ideally) to Spain for my senior year, maybe not the whole year, but maybe like 6 months? i would love some feedback from English speaking students or Spanish speaking students who have hosted and English speaking student before. i am decent at Spanish but i don't know if i am proficient enough for an exchange program

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS PLEASE!

Answer 1

Most study abroad programs require 2 years or more of Spainish, or the equivalent of that, to go for a semester or year of highschool to Spain. So make sure you check with the language requirements.

Although I would not reccommend going your senior year, just because you might miss out on classes you need in order to graduate. But if you aren't missing anything, and you will be able to graduate, then go your senior year. But it would probaly be better to go your Junior year, but then that would be pretty hard to apply for college if you plan on going.

Here's a few programs you could go through.

http://www.yfu-usa.org/

http://www.intraxstudyabroad.com/

http://www.ciee.org/hsabroad/

http://www.aspectfoundation.org/study_ab...

Answer 2

I would recommend that you go during you Senior year.  Junior year is too critical to your education.  It's not difficult to apply to colleges while your overseas as long as you prepare some before going over.  The programs I would recommend would be AFS, AYUSA, or CIEE.  You might also want to check out your local Rotary International club because they have programs as well.  The best organization is AFS in my opinion.  No matter where you look its going to cost around $8000-$10000.  You need to make sure your ready for that challenge and also be ready to study the language intensively.  Try to get as much as you can out of your Spanish classes right now.  Additionally, I'd recommend going abroad for the entire year.  The cost difference between the year and semester program is nominal.  It may seem depressing to miss out on all the fun things your senior year, but an education in Spain is worth much more than graduation and prom with your class.  Espero que tengas un buen viaje!  Buena suerte.

Answer 3

I would recommend going your junior year. The senior year can be really difficult to manage with college stuff. So much preparation is done during the first semester of your senior year that you'd probably have too much stress if you went overseas.