High School year abroad to Holland with the Intrax Cultural Exchange(AYUSA), What was your experience?

Question

High School year abroad to Holland with the Intrax Cultural Exchange(AYUSA), What was your experience?

Answer 1

I agree. AYUSA has a very bad reputation in our part of the country as well!  I can think of several examples where the organization has broken state department rules and, in fact, our high school won't enroll students from that program because support is practically non-existent! They are also one of the most commonly reported programs on the COmmittee for the Safety of Foreign Exchange Students site.

You should ask your high school counselor for recommendations for other programs. A program is only as good as its local representatives. AFS, Aspect, YFU, Rotary are generally reliable everywhere.

If you have a choice, now is the time to find a better program!

If you are already locked in, don't worry. You can still have a great year! You may just be a little more on your own than you would be with another organization.

To talk to others who have done an exchange, check out http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

Have fun!

Answer 2

I honestly would not recommend that program. I know a few people who went through Intrax, and did not have good experiences. Also, they aren't on the list of "safe" exchange programs. (Although they may be now, I haven't looked recently).

But you should try taking a look at these programs:

http://www.usa.afs.org/usa_en/home

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

http://www.asse.com/United_States/index....

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

I will be studying abroad with AFS (the first link), and one of my top choices is the Netherlands/Holland.