Hear from students, parents and hosts about their exchange experiences with Students of the World.
Outbound students
“
I have this whole other family and support system in another country now, which I think is just amazing.
D’Jango – went to Italy
“
This experience was beyond life-changing. I couldn’t recommend it any more.
Anna – went to France
“
My exchange year was the best of my life. I will never forget how my decision to live abroad and discover what the world had in store for me was life-changing and it’s something I will always cherish.
Bree – went to Germany
“
I enjoyed every minute of my exchange. I was immersed in the Spanish culture. From the food, family events, language, friends, Bulls, festivals, etc, I was given amazing opportunities to learn something new every day.
My Host Family was absolutely amazing. They treated me like their own daughter and were very loving. There is a lot of banter in the household – it shocks me how well we got along sometimes. They treated me like an adult and gave me lots of freedom but at the same time kept me in line. I made an amazing amount of friends and got along with most of the town.
One of the biggest difficulties was the language, that being speaking English to my parents back home! I never thought the day would come where I would struggle to speak my own language, but I suppose that’s one of the many benefits of exchange!
Abby – exchange student to Spain
Inbound students
“
Surely my experience in Australia has been one of the best of my life.
Living in another country so far from home not only teaches you to greatly improve your language level, but to face all the difficulties you will have to face on your own, to grow, understand yourself, establish friendships and a beautiful relationship with your family.
You will get to know fantastic people who will want to let you know me as much as possible so that you can live this unique adventure. I was lucky with my host family to visit the breathtaking scenery of Cape Jarvis, the wonderful Kangaroo Island, and lots of other places.
Thanks to my experience I’ve learnt to know myself, to live with another family that is not mine, to face difficulties alone and definitely to grow up.
If I had to answer the question “what will you miss the most of Australia?” I would answer the question speaking about the sympathy of many people. Most of them always care about you and they’re always kind.
Pietro – from Italy
“
I’ve been so lucky to have the opportunity to come here in Australia for three months as an exchange student, because it is an experience that is changing my life in a positive way.
I’ve done a lot of things I will never forget. But the best things, which are the ones I will miss more, aren’t the wonderful landscapes of the Australian coast or the Australian desert or some other fantastic things, but they’re the relationships that have been created with the host family, with the Australians friends and with the others exchange students. I talked a lot with all of them, and they taught me a lot of things.
Being far from home and from everyone I know made me reflect with my own reason on everything around me, which improved my way of thinking.
Nicolo – from Italy
“
I’m sure that this Australian experience is one of the best of my life…
Here in Australia I had the opportunity to live in a different culture and to live in a different country, to improve my English, to have a lot of different experiences and to make new friends.
In Australia fortunately I found a beautiful family, who managed to get me into their activities and made me feel at home.
The things that I will miss about Australia are my family, my school, my friends and the bonds that I heve created with other people. I think that I’m going to miss my family a lot because we have created a really good relationship and will be difficult to separate from them. About my school I think that I will miss the fact that school is very easy compared to Italy, so I don’t want to separate myself from it hahah.
To conclude I wanted to say that this was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and I highly recommend it, because it is one of those things that only happens once in a lifetime and therefore it is better not to miss this incredible opportunity.
Davide – from Italy
Parents of outbound students
“
Children on exchange become stronger, more independent people and hopefully come home with a new perspective on life.
It takes some courage and motivation to want to go on exchange for teenagers and I believe this can only be beneficial to them in life.
My daughter has been placed with a wonderful host family and they have been very good to her since she arrived. The three-day orientation in Paris was a highlight and I would also recommend the three-day language camp that Students of the World offers students.
I would thoroughly recommend Students of the World. They are a very reputable company.
Kirsten – mother of student who went to France
“
Working with Students of the World has been an absolute pleasure right from the initial point of contact and all the way through the application process.
The service provided by Sandeep is second to none. He knows his stuff and communicates in a clear, helpful and friendly way. Sandeep is able to use his deep understanding of the student exchange process to answer the many questions I and my daughter had, and it was always done with a smile.
Students of the World puts the student first at all times and works hard to make sure their experience is well supported, positive and also a lot of fun. The partnership that Students of the World has established with the exchange company in France is clearly longstanding and of a high quality. The host family that my daughter has been matched to was carefully selected and accommodated not only her personal interests, but also that she is vegetarian.
I cannot recommend Students of the World and Sandeep highly enough to anyone that is thinking about a student exchange. Students of the world are professional, thoughtful and kind with an excellent level of personalised service all the way through!
Elyse – mother of student who went to France
“
My daughter’s exchange is a wonderful opportunity to see how other people live and to test out her language skills, her ingenuity and adaptability, as well as see something of the world.
It’s a great experience for the whole family too because we have met an amazingly generous and hospitable family on the other side of the world. We hope it is a lasting connection.
Students of the World provided us with very timely information about the travel process and we felt reassured that there were very clear directions and processes for the journey. A team member met our daughter in transit in Melbourne and connected her with other students going on exchange to France. This turned what might have been a time of apprehension into a fun experience.
Jane – mother of student who went to France
“
Operational excellence and outstanding services.
It is my belief that the exchange program is not only designed to improve one’s language skills but also provide character development and multiple skills in organisation, social and time-management. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to learn to be independent whilst building friendships and experiencing different parts of the world. We were very much delighted when a partial scholarship opportunity was offered by SOTW.
It has been an exceptional experience to deal with Students of The World when preparing and processing the application for my daughter’s student exchange program. For anyone with desires in positive personal development through exchange programs, SOTW is highly recommended for their well organised plans and professional services, which surely will make this part of the life journey become so exciting, valuable and memorable.
The trip from Sydney to Paris is a long flight with transfers in between. Unfortunately, our daughter had never taken any flight alone previously; However, Students of the World simplified this process and ensured all our questions were answered before the flight. We had a final consultation call two weeks before the flight where we had detailed discussions on the flights boarding, security, transfer, arrival, dealing with host family, etc. This call made us feel safe and comfortable.
We are very satisfied with our daughter’s progress in the exchange program and the supports received by SOTW and PIE (an organisation connected to SOTW). We like to express our gratitude to everyone involved in making our daughter’s exchange happen. I have no doubt you will be sharing the same quality of experience when SOTW is assisting to achieve your goals!
Kenneth – father of student who went to France
Host families
“
We were a host family to a 15-year-old French student. He had very similar interests to our son and they were quite close in age.
I felt our experience was so positive as our student made a lot of effort to engage and communicate with our family and also at school.
I think it helped that we had a Facetime with the student and his family before we left, and we also had a schedule for his 7 weeks with us. This was partly due to the sporting commitments we had as a family at the weekend.
I felt that the visit during the school term meant there was less pressure to organise lots of things to do as simply attending school and being part of a busy family life was a real experience.
Zoe – host
“
It is amazing how before our student arrived, 6 weeks sounded like a long time, but once she arrived it flew by so quickly! We didn’t want her to leave and she wanted to stay.
We now have a new family member that we have enjoyed showing around our part of the country and our culture. We have learnt so much about her culture and who she is as well. I couldn’t recommend this experience enough. It is a great opportunity to learn more about your family, establish a brilliant friendship, share our culture and learn about another.
Angela – host
“
Six weeks can fly by fast, and it was a wonderful experience to host a student from Europe.
One of the best things? It makes you all, as a family, be really present in each and every day. Making the most of little routines like lazy Sunday brunches on the patio and chilling at the beach, through to planning mini trips to enjoy the magic of our region.
Jane – host
“
For host parents, Students of the World are a very supportive organisation.
They are very experienced in organising host families and exchange students and provide amazing support to host families once the students in place in families. They are responsive to any queries and are in contact with the home country of the host student when the need arises. I recommend them highly.
Tess – host
“
The experience of hosting a student was great for our family. We had so much fun showing him around and he now part of our family.
Myf – host
“
Students of the World were very professional and caring.
They followed up several times to ensure the student was happy. Very quick to answer emails. Just fantastic service.
Nadia – host
“
It was a lovely experience for our family hosting a French young man for 2 months. We are a split family in two houses and we shared him between the houses with our children.
It was good to discuss his impressions of our country and learn some differences. We enjoyed doing lots of things together – things we wouldn’t usually do like touring and visiting museums and beaches etc. It was a good experience for us and I hope a great experience for our student as well.
We may have struck it lucky with a student that fitted well with our family – but probably this was good matching by Students of the world.
He was easy to get on with. He enjoyed doing some outdoorsy things with us. We enjoyed learning about some cultural and language differences between Australia and France. We cooked together, went on bush walks together, visited places, watched a few movies as a family etc. He was happy at the school.
Andrew – host