For my graduation thesis, I researched how the international exchange program American Field service (AFS) changes the lives and social networks of students. I was also interested in what roles do foreign language, location, financial status and going to school in a foreign country have on the course of the exchange. In the theoretical part I wrote about students in Slovenia, social networks and international migrations. Furthermore, I was interested in finding out more about students’ international exchanges, more specifically about reasons to participate in exchange, influences on decision making, the consequences and about social networks during the exchange. Lastly, I found out more about AFS organisation and about the course of the exchange. In the empirical part of the thesis, I presented the results of qualitative research, done on the sample of nine interviewees. Interviewees went on their exchange for ten months. Results showed that the majority of students are very satisfied with their exchange. Problems during the exchange are linked to creating new friendships. Experiences with host families are mostly great, few of interviewees had problems, which they solved with the help of an AFS contact person. When students returned back home, they noticed changes in relationships with people. Some had better relationships with their family. Quite a lot of interviewees lost or changed their friends. The exchange greatly influenced the personality traits of students, they also reported better knowledge of foreign languages. Not knowing foreign languages upon arrival to a new country, made making friends and communicating with them harder. Most of the students said that going to school in a foreign country was good and that it helped create new friendships. The financial status has a role in what experience students will have during the exchange. Moreover, it also has a role in deciding which country students will go to.
|
