I hardly ever take note of any student exchange programs when I was still a freshman in my high school, trying very hard to adapt to my high school life. High school life is just too hectic and packed and part of the reason why I didn't pay much attention to student exchange was because of the shambled daily routine and tonnes of homework that just almost killed my heart to explore the fun.
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| KIZUNA means "bond" |
About a year ago, one of my friends found this AFS KIZUNA project which offered a fully-sponsored (including flight tickets) scholarship program on a newspaper and showed it to me. Out of the blue, this student exchange program fever just burnt like a wildfire in a jungle among my peers and almost all of those academic-wise students signed up for this scholarship. I signed up for this scholarship as well, which made me looked even "smaller" than I was supposed to be back then because those people out there, man they were all just awesome and I was completely awestruck by their academic achievements, extracurricular achievements and English proficiency.
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| Body-written "KIZUNA" |
Unexpectedly, I got the scholarship and everyone at my school knew it almost the next second (some earlier) I did. Yeah, so in the end, I got to go to Japan! :D :D The trip to Japan that I've made last year really widen my scope and changed my perspective towards things and incidents and I felt really great and enjoyable. It was really a life-changing experience. Before I went onto this program, I was quite introspective and timid. Now, I just babble everything out like nobody's business and I really enjoyed the perks of interacting with people, especially strangers .__.
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| AFS MALAYSIA RAWWWKSSS!! \m/ |
KIZUNA really thought me a huge lesson about life and I felt really blessed and lucky because I've got to know a lot of friends from the countries all over the world. Melanie from New Zealand, Mary from Australia, Clinton from Australia, Khao Fang from Thailand, Mai from Vietnam, Theodore from Singapore, Zi Jia from Singapore and many more to count. These bonds are gonna be life lasting and I swear I would remember those sweet and memorable moments that we've spent together at Japan. I really love u guys!!
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| My rommies at Minami Ai-zu! :D We were wearing Yukata just for the sake of taking this picture . From the left: Mary, me, Khao Fang, Melanie |
If u guys wanna find out more about AFS student exchange program, click here (only for Malaysians) ;)
That was a summary of my student exchange experience but if you are craving to know more, don't fret. Just simply click KIZUNA project part 1 & KIZUNA project part 2 . Part 1 is mainly about the whole project which includes my short stay at Minami Ai-zu, Fukushima, Japan. It's all about meeting new people and visiting interesting places at Minami Ai-zu. On the other hand, part 2 is mainly about my experience staying with my very nice host family.
Well, my part of student exchange program is done. Now, I'm gonna talk about my friend's student exchange program. Stefanie hasn't go to the student exchange program yet, technically, but she had applied for the YES scholarship program (fully sponsored, including flight tickets) and she has got it! I gotta say "WHOA! That's a no-mean feat!" As I am a returnee of AFS, she constantly "bugged" me with a lot of how-what-why-where-when-who questions, which was very good because it showed her thirst and determination for getting the scholarship. Stefanie is totally the most hyper and eager girl that I've ever met, which is why I personally feel that she deserves the scholarship more than anybody else does.
YES program is a fully sponsored scholarship program that offers form 5 students to go abroad to America and stay there for 6 months after SPM examination. Can you actually believe that?? 6 months of stay at United States and you don't even have to pay a penny! Oh my gosh! I also got to know from her
that she actually gets to attend dance classes for one week before they
depart to the States because they are going to study at the high school there and subsequently attending the high school
graduation prom at whichever school they are going to be placed. (I'm so gonna apply for this scholarship next year :P ) Yeah, and this hellish lucky girl - Stefanie, got it, and all of us cheered for her jubilantly. I actually phoned her the next day she got the scholarship because there were 9 missed calls from her on my cell phone. She got through to me and we both yelled over the phones like some raving lunatic that just got out of the asylum (or just broke out) xD
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| Stef, you're the best! :D :D |
If none of these scholarship programs is your plate of dish, then maybe you might consider to apply for paid programs if your family is affordable to pay. The prices for the paid programs aren't really expensive and it's actually quite worth it. A few of my friends actually went to the paid programs too, so you might wanna think over it ;)
Anyways, there's just one more thing that I'd like to say before I end my post.
\m/ "AFS-ers RAWWWKSSS!!" \m/
