Ayusa InternationalReviews of ayusa.org

We had a great experience with our students and the organization.

We started hosting high school foreign exchange students in 2015 with another placement agency and was introduced to AYUSA when our first community representative moved away. We've been very impressed by the involvement of our local CR and other AYUSA reps in our state. We've hosted 4 with AYUSA so far. It's always a great time with the students!

We have hosted exchange students for many years since 2006 with various US exchange programs. This is our first year with AYUSA and we are very pleased with how engaged and involved they are with the students. Any time we’ve had any questions or concerns, AYUSA has gone above and beyond the resolve any issues efficiently. We highly recommend AYUSA for hosting exchange students without exception.

Hosting an exchange student is a wonderful experience. We learned so much about her culture and enjoyed sharing ours with her. We are so thankful for our daughter we now have from overseas and the bond we share. We are so thankful for this amazing opportunity.

Our experience with hosting an exchange student through AYUSA has been exceptional. They have been supportive throughout the process (at all levels of the organization). In particular, our local community coordinator has been a key support during our student’s stay, for both us as a host family and for our student. He is in regular contact with us and has planned a number of fun and engaging activities for our student to participate in. I highly recommend this organization.

Hi, my family and I decided to give hosting a try for the first time back in August. We had no clue what we had to do but I remembered I had a friend that I followed constantly on Facebook and requested some information. We proceeded with the requirements and by the time we knew it, our kid was here with us. My little ones were so nervous and didn’t know what to do or say but they did keep telling me that they were excited. We kept taking our exchange student out and showing him around. He was so in awe of all the “American things” and couldn’t believe how real it was. He kept telling me that he thought that what he saw on movies- was just in movies. What fascinated him the most was the drive thru car washes. He has never seen one and couldn’t believe his eyes. 2 months into our journey, we went from having one exchange student to having two students. We took in one other student that was not having the best experience with his other family; this was the best decision ever. My kids were now able to have two international students from two different countries share their culture and language with not just my two boys but also with my husband and I. Here we are now , almost 7 months in and we are loving every bit of it. I would not change anything thus far. We have really really enjoyed hosting students so we decided to do it again this coming August. If you are ever hesitant to host and international student or students- don’t be! It will be the best time and experience. You will create ever lasting bonds and relationships with them and their families that will last a lifetime! We highly recommend Ayusa. They are quick to connect with us and they are always understanding and will go beyond your expectations to fix or correct anything that may arise that can’t be fixed on your own.

Our daughter is currently seven months into a ten month exchange with Ayusa and she is having the time of her life! Her host family have become dear to our whole family, she has made some wonderful friends, her school is great and the AyUsa exchange community where she lives is extremely supportive. They have regular exchange student gatherings and events and our daughter has not only made connections and established friendships with her American peers, but many from other countries in her fellow exchange students as well! The whole exchange experience has far exceeded our expectations and we would recommend it to anyone considering it. Ayusa are professional yet friendly and really support and guide their exchange students. We are now in the process of applying to host a student ourselves here in Australia after being inspired by our daughter’s AyUsa host family and will make enquiries next year for our youngest daughter to go on exchange.

I was an Ayusa exchange student a while back, and let me tell you that this is the worst communication I’ve ever experienced with an organization. When I was placed in the US, I had a hard time connecting with people, I’ll be honest. Once it got better after a month or so, someone who goes over the evaluation conversations of Ayusa, sent MY MOM an email telling her lots of things that I’ve been doing wrong and claiming other things while they never contacted me first about it. Saying that I wanted to quit cheer for no reason, that I made my hostmom sit in the backseat, had no interests in my host family and other exchange student who lived next to me, that I closed myself off in my room and that I was being dramatic over a 15 min car drive (I can get panic attacks in small places, so that’s why. Even a 5 min car drive gave me a panic attack when I was there). Mind you, they have never emailed me first to confirm this all, they straight up emailed my organization and mother first. What a lack of communication and respect. I had to receive their email through my mom too. It actually made me so upset that I emailed back to explain everything, while I still think they should’ve contacted me first if they wanted to make these fake claims about me to make my people at home worry. Everything that was said in their email wasn’t true and never heard of, so I gave them the truth about everything and explaining everything they said I was doing. And they NEVER apologized. The lady who sent out that email later came to our place, and I’ll be honest, I was a little cold towards her. Genuinely because she didn’t apologize for making false claims and not contacting me about it first. It was brought up that I sometimes made my host mom late for school (never heard about this before, so also my host moms fault for not telling me it was a real issue. I apologized for it though.) and the lady from Ayusa jokingly said that if she were my host mom, she would’ve kicked me out immediately. She made more comments like that, so that’s also why I was being cold towards her. I was younger back then, but I still realize this isn’t how you treat your own exchange student. I wouldn’t recommend this organization to anyone, there’s a lot of other organizations that actually do make their own exchange students their number 1 priority. Ayusa failed me, and they never apologized to me for it. I’m not someone who leaves reviews at all, but I really wouldn’t want anyone to experience what I experienced because it messed me up so bad I left the US earlier to go back home. Be very picky and careful with your organizations.