School
Year Abroad
by Jessica Greif
Do you ever wonder if there’s more to life than, well, life as you know it? I did.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I was looking for a change. My French teacher told me about
School Year Abroad, SYA, a program that accepted 60 high-school juniors and seniors each year to their programs in France
and Spain. Accepted students spend their academic year living in another country with a host family.
All participants attend school together and take most of their classes in French or Spanish. In
France, for example, the classes were French Language, French Literature, French History, French Civilization, and Art History
taught by native teachers while English and Math were taught in English by American teachers who had come abroad through the
program.
SYA was founded in 1964 by Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, and is now run by a consortium of independent schools.
You don’t have to attend one of the schools to be accepted into the program. Students from
public and private high schools all over the Unites States participate each year. SYA has expanded since
I was in high school: students may now spend the year in France, Spain, or Italy, and either a semester or a full school year
in China.
What
is school year abroad really like?
I asked 15 women who spent their junior or senior years abroad with SYA to share their memories with me.
What makes a girl decide
to skip town for a year?
“I wanted a change. I had spent 11 years at the same private school in St. Paul [Minnesota]
and I was seeking ‘fresh air’—namely, a greater degree of cultural diversity.”
Andrea, who spent her senior
year (’98-’99) in Spain
“I wanted to get into a competitive college and knew I had to do something extraordinary to distinguish myself from
my peers. I was convinced that living abroad and learning to speak a new language fluently would do just
that.”
Caroline,
a ’96-’97 SYA France participant from Houston
What is it like when you actually have a new family?
The host family placement is at the heart of SYA.
It is the ultimate in cultural immersion, and I would call this the biggest challenge and greatest growth experience
of my year in France.
“At
first, it was quite difficult, simply because I felt like I was randomly tossed into someone else’s family life.
But very quickly, they made me feel 100% like a part of their family.”
Caroline, a ’96-’97 SYA France participant from Houston
“It was great. Stressful, of
course, in that you can never just relax, kick your feet up and be yourself the way you can with your real family.
It requires a 24/7 energy that can be really taxing, but my host family made it easy on me.”
Julia, who spent her junior
year in France
What happens if something
goes wrong with your host family?
Caroline’s host family “behaved decently toward me, but I came into a family crisis that
no one could have anticipated. There was another family who befriended me and served as surrogates when the tension
in my host family escalated.”
Nora had kind host parents, but “a rather distant 8-year-old host sister, who always seemed quite skeptical of my
presence in her home. In fact, after about a month living with this host family, I began to feel extremely
homesick. I wasn't quite sure what the problem was: perhaps the long commute to school each day or perhaps my inability
to connect with my host sister? Whatever the root cause, I was rather miserable, and I spoke to the host
family coordinator at SYA, who moved me to another family after just a week. I
was deeply grateful to SYA for the swiftness of the change.”
What are the unexpected cultural difference?
Menna, who was in China as a junior, is a second-generation
Ethiopian American. She says: “For me it was interesting to witness the reactions I received because
I was the only black person in our entire SYA group. I received many wonderful compliments and I remember walking into one
store and them telling me I looked like a queen. Another time, on our trip to Tiananmen Square, there was a couple with their
newborn and they insisted that I hold their baby so they could take pictures, so we took pictures together. I also ran into
people who had never seen a black person before so they were curious to say the least and would come up and tell me I'm
a black person as if we both discovered it at the same time. It was altogether a great experience and I was happy to be well-received
by those I met.”
Katy, who spent her senior year in France, says: “My host parents weren't married. They just lived together
and had a child together and were a family. This taught me to be more open-minded. Mostly they were just
more normal than my home family. My biological father is something of a mad scientist. In France, I learned that
people just live their lives in peace in front of the TV, and that is totally OK.”
Will studying abroad change my life?
“I became truly confident, not filled with false bravado. I had tested myself.
I was a citizen of the world, capable of going to a place completely unknown and not only living but thriving. ... It made
me look at ‘adults’ in a different way: as mentors, guides, and not prison guards or faceless enforcers.”
Elizabeth,
who spent the fall of 1996 in China
“SYA...was possibly more crucial to my development than my four years in college. ... I learned
the disarming power of genuine curiosity and humility. Instead of showing my [host] family how my culture worked, I
wondered about theirs.”
Caroline, a ’96-’97 SYA France participant from Houston
Julia points out an oft-overlooked
benefit of her time in France: “I think [an] aspect to the SYA experience that doesn't get
championed as much as it should is the embarrassment. You really learn how to mess up. Being thrown into a really
intimate family setting that unfolds around you in the accelerated colloquial version of a language you're still learning
is a recipe for bungles, miscommunications, embarrassments, etc…, and in retrospect I really see how much those moments
are the engines of growth and development.”
What should I know about school year abroad?
“DO IT! Seriously, it was the most life-altering experience of my life. It
gives you experiences that you would never have otherwise and will definitely make you a more confident and self-assured young
woman. You will make life-long connections with your host family and new friends.”
Kaitlin, who spent the fall
of her junior year in China
“Make sure you're going for the right reasons. You have to be willing to leave your friends and family,
sports and social life for an entire year. Not everyone will be good at keeping in touch, and things will change at
your home school, but the experiences you have will be infinitely more valuable. Be willing to be lost at first, and
to miss home. I joke that I cried the entire first month I was there, because I was homesick and the entire last month
because I didn't want to leave! Be willing to step outside your comfort zone, try new activities and foods. Avoid
spending too much time with your fellow Americans and immerse yourself in the local culture. Make local friends and
learn from them!”
Ana, who spent her junior year in France
“Bring tools for self-reflection, such as a journal or voice-recorder in
which to record your thoughts.”
Sarita, who spent her senior year in Spain
What about my college applications?
Katy encourages anyone considering going abroad
for their senior year not to worry about applying to colleges from outside the country. “Sending
my applications from a French return address helped me immensely, [as did] escaping the insane culture of competition and
pressure that happens these days around college acceptance letters in America. You think you will miss
parties and senior bonding? No. France was the best party and the best friends I've ever had in my life.
Dead serious. Even after four years of college, I still love my friends from France more than anyone in my life.
SYA was the best senior year anyone could have dreamed of.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
For more information, go to http://www.sya.org.
