Foreign Exchange and Study Abroad

Laura spent her junior year (2004-2005) abroad as a foreign exchange student in Chile. She stayed with a host family, went to school, and created life lasting friendships while speaking Spanish the whole time. Laura was a Spanish student at Harwood for three years, but she would have called herself anything but fluent. Now after her year abroad she is happy to announce that she came back fluent. With her new experience she hopes to go to college and major in Spanish. She keeps in constant contact with her host family, and friends and hopes to return to Chile soon.

Rachel spent her junior year on a YFU program (2004-2005) in rural Belgium, where she lived with a host family and learned to speak French. Originally, she was only planning to stay for the fall semester, but was enjoying herself so much that she decided to stay for the entire year. She still writes regularly with her host family and the friends that she made at her Belgian school, Institut St. Joseph. In fact, one of them is coming to visit her this summer. Going abroad was one of the best decisions she ever made because she now feels like she is more globally aware and has learned a lot about herself. Next year Rachel is planning to attend Smith College, where she would like to study abroad again.

This picture is of me and my best friend Leonie. We’re on our way home from school, which, by the way, was a 15km ride one way. Good thing Holland is so flat!! I spent the majority of my junior year of high school in the Netherlands, about an hour south of Amsterdam. The country is beautiful, the people are incredible, and the cheese…well, don’t get me started about the cheese. Being an exchange student has been one of the best experiences of my life, so far. I highly recommend it to anyone who is up to the task! Come down and I’ll tell you all about it!(AFS student fall 1998-early spring 1999)

Sharon Sisler is a local AFS representative, and has two sons at Harwood. In her senior year of high school, Sharon was an AFS student to Chile. A highlight of the year was being dragged down to the local gym by the neighborhood girls who were impressed with her towering height of 5’6”. This talented group of short volleyball players taught Sharon the sport. They all then developed into a team with wonderful camaraderie, won the regional title, and traveled to the northern desert of Chile to compete in the national championships.
While in college Sharon also studied abroad as an engineering student in Germany. Recently, her family has hosted for AFS and Project Harmony. Sharon still enjoys traveling to small corners of the world and encouraging Harwood students to do the same with the goal of promoting peace through intercultural understanding.