Welcome Letter

We are looking for bright, open minded, flexible young people who are willing to move outside their comfort zones and who want to learn about the world and themselves.  

The experience of going on exchange can bring enormous rewards:

• Learn about the world first hand
• Open career doors you didn’t know existed
• Get to know how others live and come to see the world from another perspective
• Learn another language
• Test yourself and acquire independence and maturity
• Make new friends and appreciate old ones even more
• Gain experience and judgement

But living overseas is not easy:

• It requires courage to travel half way round the world to live with a new family in a new community very different from your own
• It requires flexibility to attend a new school, make new friends and perhaps learn a new language
• It requires an open mind to live in another culture, to observe and appreciate the differences and to truly learn from the experience
• You become immersed in the local community
• You will find that all the familiarity of home – the ways of doing things, the people, sights, sounds, smells - are suddenly no longer there. You will be confronted with completely different ways of seeing and understanding the world around you
• You may encounter homesickness and culture shock particularly in the early stages of the program

But if you are up for a challenge and have realistic expectations then being an exchange student can be a life changing experience.

Student Exchange Australia New Zealand Ltd has many years experience of delivering high quality programs. All our staff have either been exchange students, have lived, worked or studied overseas. They understand the challenges involved and are committed to providing you with a high level of service and support throughout.

The best way to learn more about our programs is to come along to one of our free information sessions. They are held regularly in major cities and allow you to meet our staff and hear from returned participants. I run many of the sessions myself and I hope to meet you there.

If I can ever be of any assistance please feel free to call on 1300 135 331 (in Australia) or 0800 440 079 (in New Zealand).

Kind regards,
Nick Lorentzen MA Warwick, MintS Sydney
National Director