I'm wanting to spend time in Japan as a high school exchange student, however I have some questions. How old do you have to be, and when are you considered "too old" as a high school student to do foreign exchange? I just turned 19 (old, I know) and am halfway done with my senior year- which brings me to my other question. Am I able to qualify even though I'm so close to graduating, would I have to repeat a year here (US) in order to be able to study abroad? Someone please give me some info on this, thanks.
>>1092631
College. Semester Abroad. All the fun, all of the freedom.
>>1092632
This is best idea.
But just a heads up, its not an easy program to get into, no matter how your university advertises it, you need to work very hard.
Also why Japan OP?
>>1092631
I have a friend, an inexplicable Suomiboo, who did an extra year of high school through AFS. He graduated, moved to Finland, did the equivalent of a second senior year in Varkaus, learned Finnish, came home, went to university a year and a bit older than his youngest peers. I think he was probably only eighteen when he left, so yes, he was a little younger than you. But he did it, so it's definitely possible. His program was not at all academically intensive, and of course he did not need the grades, but he did actually learn very good Finnish, which is no mean feat (he's very, very quick with languages--conversant in seven or eight by now, presently completing a PhD in philology).
I don't know if AFS in particular even has a Japan program, or if they expect participants to have had some Japanese, but if they have one you can probably apply for it.
University exchange makes way more sense at your stage.
But I guess that won't help you fuck schoolgirls.
>>1092665
I've been interested in Japanese culture and history for a number of years, but never got the chance to pursue it any further than reading into it in books/internet. I definitely regret having the idea of foreign exchange come to me this late in my high school career.
>>1092996
This is actually pretty reassuring, thanks a lot.
>>1093004
I was planning to take a gap year between high school and college but if I never get the change to do a HS foreign exchange, then obviously I'll try to study abroad when I attend college.