Arrival Day and First Weeks
Most students arrive on a Friday. AFS volunteers and staff will meet you at the airport in Zurich. Many host families will come to the airport to meet their new family member. If your host family cannot be there, AFS volunteers will accompany you from the airport to your host family's home.
When you get to your host family's home, there will be some important AFS documents waiting for you. Take your time to read through everything carefully and to discuss it with your host family. Take the card in the appendix of this booklet and fill in the important numbers and addresses together.
Do not forget to give your welcome gift(s). Your gifts are the perfect icebreaker and will allow you to have a great start with your host family.
If you come from a different time zone, use the first weekend at your host family's home to get rid of the jet lag
Eat and sleep when Swiss people do in order to get into the Swiss rhythm as soon as possible. You will need your energy for all the new things that await you in the first few weeks.
Language Course for Year Students
Many year students will attend an intensive language course, depending on their level of German, French or Italian.
First School Day in Your Host School
If your classmates seem a little indifferent at first, please don't take this personally. Swiss teenagers are often quite reserved at the beginning. But once they get to know you, they will open up.
Orientation Camp
After a few weeks, you will attend the AFS orientation camp over the weekend. You will get together with around 20 other AFS students who are placed in the same region. The camps are organized by AFS volunteers. Most of them are former exchange students who know exactly how it feels to be new in a foreign country.
During the camp, you will have the opportunity to share your first impressions of Swiss life, ask all the questions on your mind, and find out what other host students have experienced so far.
AFS Rules
Rules are important to ensure that the exchange students in Switzerland have a safe stay and to help them adjust to their Swiss family and school life.
You are expected to follow the rules of your host family and of your host school. To them, their rules might seem natural and self-evident, but not to you. It is therefore important that you get to know the rules through questions and dialogue with host family members, teachers, classmates and AFS volunteers. Such discussions are not only important to avoid trouble, they are also a very good opportunity to learn a lot about the values and the beliefs in your host culture.
Furthermore, you have to respect the rules of AFS Switzerland. Students who violate any of these rules can be excluded from the program and sent home. It is therefore very important that you understand the rules and know what is expected from you.
Rules of AFS Switzerland
The rules will be discussed during the orientation camp in Switzerland, so you should seize the opportunity to ask questions if something is unclear. After the discussion, you will be asked to sign the rules to confirm that you have understood and will respect them.
- Respect the laws in Switzerland.
- Driving motor vehicles, hitchhiking and the consumption of drugs are strictly prohibited.
- You may not get drunk. Hard liquor is not allowed while on the program. Never drink more than 2 glasses of beer or wine. Read and review the information on alcohol in the Safety Handbook carefully.
- It is forbidden to organize parties where alcohol or drugs are present.
- Do not sign contracts during your stay in Switzerland (such as work contracts, mobile phone plans, rental agreements etc.). There is one exception to this rule: You are allowed to sign a contract in order to open a bank account.
- Follow the travel rules and the rules for visits from your home country as explained in the next paragraphs. Independent trips and visits from home must not interfere with your adjustment process, your obligations at school and the plans of your host family.
Travel Rules
School always comes first. You are not allowed to miss school in order to travel.
Switzerland is small, relatively safe, and public transport is very reliable. Therefore, you will certainly have the opportunity to see many places in the country. It is very common for Swiss teenagers to move independently, to visit friends in other parts of the country etc. You are also allowed to do this if your host family gives you their approval. Discuss your plans with your host parents and make sure that they do not interfere with the family plans.
As soon as you have your residence permit, you are allowed to cross the border to the neighboring countries for day trips. In fact, it is very common in Switzerland to cross the border to go shopping. There is usually no border control. Nevertheless, make sure that you always carry your residence permit and your passport with you.
For independent overnight trips outside Switzerland, you need permission from AFS Switzerland. This permission will be granted under the following conditions:
- You have been on the program for at least 4 months (for year students only).
- You do not miss any school days.
- Your host family agrees.
- Your natural parents agree.
- You either stay with relatives or friends, or you are accompanied by an adult resident of Switzerland.
- We need a written invitation from the family you will be visiting abroad or an email from the person accompagnying you with a copy of the passport or id card.
- You are not allowed to travel independently for more than 21 days during your exchange program.
- You have handed in your travel request for permission at least two weeks in advance. (How this is done will be explained to you during the orientation camp.)
If you travel with your host family or your host school, you need to inform AFS Switzerland where you are and how you can be reached in case of an emergency. If you plan to leave the Schengen area with your host family or host school, please inform AFS Switzerland 2 weeks in advance so that we can obtain a written permission from your natural parents.
Visits from Home
Visits from relatives and friends often have a disruptive effect. For this reason, AFS advises against visits from your home country during the exchange program. Visits from natural parents, relatives or friends always require prior approval from the host family and AFS Switzerland.
Travelling outside Switzerland with visitors from your home country is not permitted during the program.
IMPORTANT: Your Swiss residence permit allows travelling within the Schengen Area. (For more information on Schengen, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area.) For other countries, you may need a visa.
Make sure you have your passport AND your residence permit with you whenever you leave the country.
Uninsured Activities
Some activites are excluded from AFS's insurance; such as but not limited to: hang gliding, paragliding, parachuting, piloting and acting as the crew in an aircraft. You are not allowed to do those activites unless you have the explicit consent of AFS Switzerland.
Your Host Family and You
AFS host families are like families everywhere, each one is different. The difference between two families in Switzerland might be as big as the difference between your home country and Switzerland itself.
Although there is no such thing as the typical AFS host family, the following is true for all of them:
- Your host family wants you to live with them. They want to get to know you and learn about your country. They want to teach you about their way of life, and they hope you will like living with them.
- Your host family expects you to show interest in them and their lives and they are more than happy to answer your questions regarding Swiss culture and politics.
- Your host family wants you to be a true family member. This means that you will share the work and responsibilities within the family, follow family rules, and consider the family when you make plans. Always remember that an exchange is not an ego project.
- Your host family wants to help you while you are in Switzerland. So don't be embarrassed or afraid to ask for their advice.
- Your host family is not perfect, just as you are not perfect. You both have to learn many things from and about each other. Assume good intentions and be patient with yourself and with them.
And please always remember: Your host family is not paid. They receive no money for having you in their home, they do it because they like the idea of intercultural exchange and therefore expect you to participate actively in their family life
Family Values and Unspoken Rules
Because every family is unique, everyone has its own customs and family rules. For you, it might be difficult to understand these rules at first, especially the unspoken ones. For the host family members, the family rules seem so natural that they might not even perceive them as rules. Dialogue is very important for you and your host family to learn from and get used to each other. So please ask if you don't understand a behavior or a rule and let them know how you do things at home.
Your Host School
Please keep in mind that the AFS program is an academic program. It may be challenging for you to follow the classes at first, and you will need to take responsibility and proactively reach out for help if you need it. Non-attendance at school and/or misbehavior can lead to the expulsion from the school and the AFS program.
Many host students find school academically very challenging, and they find it hard to make friends at school. Being an exchange student does not automatically make you an attraction. Many Swiss schools have several exchange students every year. Additionally, Swiss students have the reputation that they are quite reserved.
Do not take this personally. It does not mean that your classmates are not interested in getting to know you; they are just used to getting to know someone slowly.
Frequently Asked Questions about Swiss Schools
What type of school will I be enrolled in?
The majority of exchange students will be placed in Baccalaureate Schools or in Specialized Middle Schools. Sometimes, AFS students may also be placed in the Lower Secondary Level, depending on the age of the student and the school situation in the area of his/her host community.
Baccalaureate schools are academically competitive high schools that prepare students for university studies. They offer a broad general education and are divided into several sections (ancient languages, modern languages, scientific, commercial etc.).
How does the grading system work?
Most Swiss schools use the following grading system: