API Guide

While fully recognizing that the majority of our travelers are adults, we view parents/guardians as partners and collaborators in the preparation and journeys of our participants. We welcome your involvement throughout the abroad experience and would like to share our ideas about how you can help your student to maximize his or her experience abroad. Know that your support and ongoing communication with your student both before and during the program can be an instrumental part of his or her success.

We are intimately aware of the personal and professional growth that result from international experiences. Yet we can fully relate to the anxiety and nerves that affect many parents/guardians in the pre-departure phase and well into the abroad experience itself. Putting your child on a plane to a distant — and often unknown– location is heart wrenching, even when you know it is to his or her benefit!

We have created this list of what you can expect from API, as well as our expectations regarding how you will assist your students.

• API’s stateside staff and Resident Directors abroad are committed to delivering high quality student services and programs. All API university programs have on-site coordinators and directors to provide ongoing assistance and guidance to students in our host destinations.
• API offers academic and cultural opportunities for your student, seeking to push them outside of their comfort zones. Cultural events and excursions have been selected with the goal of providing students with a broader vision of their host country or region.
• API will place your students in accommodations that have been thoroughly investigated on the basis of quality, safety and convenience. Safety can never be guaranteed, but API believes that ongoing reviews of our housing and careful selection can help to mitigate risk.
• API will send detailed information and communications to your student throughout the experience abroad: before, during and post-program. We will also communicate with you or your student’s home institution whenever warranted.
• API will monitor potential social and political unrest abroad and provide your student with instructions regarding how to respond safely. We will also notify your student’s home institution of the situation, sharing how API is monitoring and handling matters on the ground.
• API has established extensive policies to promote safety and security. For details, see https://apiabroad.com/health-safety/
• Students have direct 24/7 access to our in-country directors for ongoing support or emergency needs.
• API stateside staff members can be reached at the API office during business hours at 800-844-4124 or 512-600-8900. In case of an emergency outside of business hours, an API staff member will be reachable by calling those numbers above and following the prompts for our emergency messaging service.
• API will seek to empower your student to handle most situations independently, but may choose to involve parents/guardians during emergencies. Parents can expect support and timely responses whenever they seek out API expertise in emergency situations.

Parents/Guardians will:

• Discuss their student’s goals and expectations for this program pre-departure and at a variety of points during the session abroad to monitor progress.
• Seek to understand how the program works and how it will impact the student’s academics upon their return to the home university campus.
• Review this handbook as well as the API website (www.apiabroad.com) and other social media outlets to more fully understand all that is involved with the experience abroad.
• Assist their student with financing and budgeting concerns. Doing so can mean diving into the complicated world of financial aid!
• Engage their student in a thorough discussion of safety and behavioral issues, as well as the API Code of Conduct. In particular, parents should speak frankly about the use of illegal drugs and alcohol while abroad, as that is the number one factor in on-site emergencies and personal crises abroad.
• Establish a communication plan with their student as to when and how often to be in contact while abroad. It is particularly important to discuss the importance of a first call home upon arrival!
• Research cell phone and connectivity options with your student and choose a plan that allows affordable and consistent communication. We recommend that students have the ability to make calls on a network, not solely on wifi, due to potential emergency needs. Students will be asked to provide in-country contact information to their respective API Resident Directors in case of an emergency.
• Respond quickly to any requests from the API office.
• Encourage their student to bring up issues and concerns directly to API Resident Directors on-site (e.g., roommate concerns, academic issues, cultural adjustment problems, etc.). Strive to balance the concerns of the student with the advice and expertise shared by API Resident Directors and U.S. staff.
• Understand how FERPA laws (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html) affect what universities and API can and cannot share with parents and guardians (i.e., certain legal protections regarding the release of personal information for adult participants affect what API is able to share).
• Give their student both “roots and wings.” Encourage their student to take the lead in the planning and execution of this time abroad, but provide support when they face inevitable challenges adjusting to a new environment.
• Coordinate with their student if planning to visit the host country so as to not conflict with travel dates for excursions and special events included in the API program.
• Discuss any travel plans and activities not included in the API program. Ensure that their student provides contact information for fellow travelers, as well as lodging information.

*We thank our colleagues at NAFSA, Arcadia and CISAbroad for their work outlining expectations for parents and guardians, and for inspiring API to articulate the information and recommendations above.

Most students will travel abroad with a laptop, tablet, smart phone, and/or digital camera. We urge students to consider the following points in preparing to take electronics abroad.

• Since a computer will add to the electricity bill in the accommodations, students should always turn it off when
  they’re not using it.
• Electronics can be targets for theft abroad since they are easily portable and valuable. We recommend that all
  students insure the devices they plan to take abroad. Many insurance companies will allow such items to be insured under a renter’s insurance policy or a homeowner’s policy. This should be done before leaving the U.S. The base insurance provided by API covers medical expenses only, not personal property.
• Students should take one or more USB flash drives with them so they can back up their work and photos and keep them in a separate location from their laptop.
• Most electronic devices will only require an adapter for the type of plug used in the host country. A voltage converter is usually not required for newer devices because they are equipped to handle either 110 volts or 220
  volts. This can be verified with the manufacturer, as well as whether traveling abroad will affect the validity of the
  device’s warranty.
• Students traveling with smart phones should be familiar with their service providers’ rates and policies for emailing, texting, web browsing and calling while traveling internationally.
• Having their familiar electronic devices at their fingertips may tempt students to spend too much time online, keeping up with everything going on at home. We encourage students to limit their time online so they do not regret missing opportunities to get involved in the host city.

Students in the U.S. are accustomed to constant and easy access to technology, and they are therefore surprised to find that these resources are often more limited abroad. All students will have access to internet in their housing, but they may find that it is not as reliable or fast as what they are accustomed to. In program locations where we have an API center, the center will be equipped with wireless internet and desktop computers for student use. Most host universities will also offer wireless and/or computer access. API will not necessarily be able to monitor or control the availability or reliability of the internet access in housing.

Students will encounter many cultural differences as they adapt to living in a foreign country. We urge students to remember that they are not in a mini-America. Our goal as a program provider is to help students learn about and adjust to a new culture, rather than to provide an environment that mimics what they may be accustomed to in the U.S. For example, internet access is still not as widespread in homes abroad as it is in the U.S. If it is not standard for accommodations to have internet access in the host country, students may need to adjust to that local norm.

Students may feel uncomfortable living with or near people who are not similar to them (i.e. not American, not students). Many students, however, have their most valuable relationships abroad with people who are outside of their peer group. Parents/guardians should encourage students to embrace those relationships, whether it’s with a younger sibling in the host family or an elderly shopkeeper. Those relationships will give the students a unique look into the community in which they are living, and they will have much to learn from those individuals. We will send more specific information as the session approaches to help students begin setting realistic expectations and to introduce some of the cultural differences they will encounter.

All students, whether they realize it or not, will feel culture shock. These emotions are inevitable when a person completely changes their lifestyle, surroundings, food, and friends, even for a brief period of time. Everyone carries with them cultural “baggage”, including their values and beliefs, family lifestyle, patterns of behavior, tastes and all the preconceived impressions they have about the country to which they are moving. Students will feel their home culture challenged, modified, stretched, changed and contrasted by the new culture. Each student will react differently to the uncomfortable feeling of culture shock. Culture shock can be plotted on a roller coaster curve. Keep in mind where your student is on the roller coaster, knowing that it goes up and down throughout the term, so that you can be prepared to help effectively.

At the beginning of a session, students are often on the high of the roller coaster. Everything they are experiencing is new, exciting and wonderful! After some time passes, however, students may begin to be critical of their new city and family, or the school, or the way shopkeepers operate. All the things that are different, that they initially were fascinated with, may become annoyances. It is important for students and parents/guardians to remember that students’ emotions will balance out as the session progresses. The highs and lows of the first few weeks will pass, and students will soon begin to feel comfortable and balanced in their new environment.

If you receive a distressed call from your student early in the program, keep in mind that in the excitement and stress of the first weeks, even the most minor issue can seem like a major crisis. Issues that they would have dealt with seamlessly on their home campus may seem to them like insurmountable problems. If this happens, we would advise you to react calmly and help the student to consider what steps he or she can take to solve the problem. Remind your student to think about how they would have handled a similar issue at home. Help him or her to think objectively, rather than emotionally, about the issue at hand. Encourage your student to integrate by seeking help from local staff or faculty, or by finding a way to get involved in the host city.

Usually, the best first step is having the student speak with his or her on-site director(s). Our on-site staff is very experienced in helping students deal with culture shock or other issues that arise, and they can provide a welcome perspective or good suggestions for getting past the issue. Depending on the student’s personality and interests, integration may mean finding a volunteer opportunity or breaking away from the American group of students for a period.

When students come to us expressing feelings of sadness or homesickness, we usually advise them to wait a week or two to see if things improve. Some students have trouble in the beginning of the program before classes begin because they have too much free time in which to worry or think about home. Students generally start to feel better once classes start and they get into a routine. If a student’s feelings are severe or do not abate with some time, API directors can make a recommendation for a local counselor.

Most students will overcome these feelings and soon will be saddened by the thought of returning to the U.S. In rare cases, a student cannot move past their feelings of homesickness or anxiety and chooses to return home. API will, of course, support a student in this decision, but it can be a complex decision financially and academically. Once a session has started, API has limited options for providing a refund of fees paid because many of our arrangements are made and paid for prior to the program start date. This decision can pose difficulties academically when the student has not done enough work to get credit for courses started abroad and it is too late to enroll at their home institution for the session.

When your student returns home, you might think that he or she will be “back to normal”, but the transition to home can be just as difficult as the transition to abroad. Individuals feel changed as a result of their experience living and learning abroad. Their perceptions, attitudes, patterns, and preferences will have grown and stretched. Students are often shocked by some of the habits and lifestyles in the U.S. that they used to take for granted and are now rediscovering. They may want to forget some of the lifestyle patterns here in the U.S. in favor of the new ones they will have acquired. Have patience with your student as he or she is critical of norms in the U.S., talks constantly about his or her experience abroad, or acts homesick for his or her “home” abroad. This is a normal part of the readjustment process.

We encourage students to concentrate on bringing some of the host culture home with them, and incorporating what they have learned about different people, places and cultures into their life and future involvements. The international office on their home university campus may have opportunities for them to get involved either with students visiting the U.S. from other countries, or with American students planning to go abroad. The coping techniques they developed abroad can be used to their advantage in dealing with the ups and downs at home. You will likely see changes in your student too, hopefully all for the better, as they will have matured and had a truly independent experience.

API on-site directors work closely with local hosts and housing agencies to find the best available housing for all of our students. Students complete housing forms to inform API of their housing preferences. API then uses this information to place the student with a host that meets as many of the student’s preferences as possible. API hosts are all selected and screened by our on-site staff. The majority of families have hosted students for many years and all new families are oriented by API resident directors and trained about their obligations toward the student.

Whether students elect to live with a host family, in a student apartment, or within a residence hall, they should be prepared to live up to 45 minutes from the host school or internship placement. When institutions are located outside of the city center, API generally seeks to minimize the distance to the school, rather than to place students close to shopping or entertainment districts. API always encourages students to travel with other API students if returning home after dark, and to reserve room in their budgets to take an occasional taxi home when socializing late into the evening.

In the event of egregious damages to the housing during the student’s stay, the student(s) responsible will be asked to make a payment on-site for the repair or replacement. Fees may also be added to the student’s account after the conclusion of the program if damages were undetected prior to check-out or fees were unpaid on-site.