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Nakreetipe Tanoy Sudhisanronakorn

Mr. Abel Cadias
English 10/ 10:04
June 20, 2016
The Current Problems of AFS Exchange Students
The current problems of AFS exchange students are culture shock and
homesickness. The purpose of this report was to explain and give examples about
current problems of AFS exchange students. The importance of this research report is
to provide awareness of the current problems of AFS exchange students. The
information in this research report was based on three cases study of current exchange
students in different counties and five articles. First source was the AFS website that
gave a brief history and information of an organization. The second source entitled
Adjusting to a New Culture described the meaning of culture shock. Third article
entitled Dealing with homesickness indicated the cause of homesickness and how to
prevented it from happening. Fourth article entitled Common phases of cultural
adjustment showed the step of adjusting in the new environment. The last article
entitled Problems that can be faced by international students revealed problems that
can occur to exchange students during the year aboard.
AFS History
The AFS website show that AFS is an intercultural program. It is a non-profit and
non-government organization that give an opportunities to those who want to help the
world by bringing peaceful to different countries and study at the same time. The
program help students to develop thinking by connecting them together. This life time
experience can change students and their parents life forever. AFS, first was named

as the American ambulance Field Service and founded by A. Piatt Andrew in April
1915. The purpose of this program is to help the world become peaceful by letting
people understand the difference in culture and language.
Level of Culture Shock
According to Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, everyone has to face
culture shock. It is very normal for exchange students because of the difference in
culture, environment, language, food, weather and a lot of thing. The level of culture
shock depend on each person factors depend on the length of time, host family and
experience aboard for examples. Homesickness, depression, out of control and
frustration are examples of symptoms.
Handle With Homesick
An Article entitled Dealing with Homesickness explained that homesickness can
be prevent by these simple steps. First is stay active. Talking and communicating with
host family are the easiest way to prevent homesickness. Instead of wasting time by
playing games and being online, contacting with host family will make time worth.
The second step that can help the exchange student is to enjoy an amazing experience.
When students miss their old friends, they just have to think that they were having a
new experience which their friends do not have. Enjoy the moment that cannot be
returned back. When exchange students come back to their own country, they will
never regret what they have done. The next one is to participate in clubs and event.
The more students interact with social, the less they become homesick. They will
meet a lot of new people and enjoy many different activities. These will take away
sadness and depression. The fourth advice is looking for the future. Thinking back to
old time can waste a lot of time. The solution is that they had to do the best to present

and look forward to beautiful future. Students will never have time to rethink to the
past again. And this mean they will be happy with things around them. Organization
can also help with homesick. When they do everything in order and manage time
well, it can release depression. Participants do not have to waste time thinking about
home. And the last one is to talk about feeling and emotion. So, they do not have to
feel it alone. They have to talk with someone. It could be host family, friends or
counselor at school. When students are sharing feeling, a lot of things that make them
sad will come out and they will feel more relieve. And sadness cannot control their
feeling anymore.
Culture Adjustment
According to Dr. Bettina Hansel, A long time AFS staff, categorized the stages of
cultural adjustment in her book The Exchange student Survival Kit into eight stage.
Arrival Fatigue is the first one. After the students travel for a long time, they might
feel exhausted and tired. However, they also feel excited and nervous from the new
environment and people. The second stage is homesickness. Homesickness occurs
when students enter the new country for the first time. Everything is different from
their country. Living in unfamiliar environment make participant to miss this is that
students should not communicate to their family and friends in their native country. It
will make they want to go back. The third phase is called honeymoon phase. This
phase happens when students feel comfortable to the new country. They will enjoy
discovering new things, making a lot of new friends and feeling really with their life.
The stage occurs after they pass through the first phase. The next stage is deepen in
relationship. Students will feel like they are one of the member in family, not just a
guest anymore. They will have a deep relationship with their family. Sometime this

phase lead to conflict. Living with someone with a deep relation can lead to many
problem such as breaking the family rule. However, problems are very normal and it
can be solve by time. The next common phase is culture shock. This happened when
honeymoon phase is over. The real life begin. They will face a lot of difference such
as difference in culture. The next one is the holiday stage. Students will enjoy the
holidays and event but somehow they will miss their hometown and family. Because
most of holiday is done with family and friends. Culture learning is the following
stage. Confident will increase in this stage. Student become more familiar with culture
and environment. And stress is finally solve. Another phases is Pre-departure. This
stage is a mixed feeling between excitement and sadness. They will happy to see go
back in their homeland and meet their family and friends. On the other hand, they do
not want to leave host country.
Cases study
- According to Yanisorn Asawakittiporn, a 15 years old girl who went to an exchange
program in Texas in the USA. I have problems with my host family. I wanted to
move out. The house was completely different from my house in Thailand, so I didn't
like it much. Moreover, the house is dirt and host brother often pull down my
stuff.But after that we had talked about the problems and we did figure it out. The
house now is better, so now I am really happy with my house and my host family.
- According to Benyapha Tuntisirikul, a 16 year old girl who went to Steinfurt in
Germany said that In the first 3 months I struggled with language. Difference in
language make me feel frustrated because it hard find new friends, to communicate
with host family and also to study in school. I also have a homesick and culture shock

too. The environment and people here are totally different from Thailand. It is hard to
adjust myself and adapt to the new environment.
- According to Thanatat Mekaroonkamol, a 15 year old boy who participated in an
exchange program in Arkansas in the US explained that When I am living in the US,
my most struggle problem is to talk and live with host family. Because of language
they speak and cultures that are different from Thailand. I took about three months to
completely understand the language. After that, all of the problem gone. I can live in
different culture, friends and my host family.
Conclusion
This research report aimed to explain and give examples about current problems of
AFS exchange students. This research report concluded most of exchange students,
based on case study, struggle in language and living. These problems led to culture
shock and homesickness. Based on cases study, students found that living in the
different culture and environment was very hard and take a lot of time to feel better.
This research recommends further studies on how to adjust to new environment.

References
Armstrong, A. (2014, September 5). Problems that can be faced by international
student. Retrieved Jun 1, 2016, fromhttps://exchanges.state.gov/nonus/adjusting-new-culture
Nault, N. (n.d.). Dealing with Homesickness. Retrieved May 19, 2016 from
http://www.studyabroad.com/student-guide-home-sickness
Adjusting to a New Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2016, from
https://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/adjusting-new-culture
AFS History & Archives. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2016, from
http://www.afs.org/afs-history-and-archives/
Common Phases of Cultural Adjustment. (2012, September 21). Retrieved May 30,
2016 from https://www.afswiki.org index.php
Common_Phases_of_Cultural_Adjustment