<p>I went to Portugal last year, if anybody has any questions about Portugal or AFS feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Hey Davan or CarbFreeNoodles (if you guys are still around),
I'm really interested in AFS too. Right now I'm trying to decide between Brazil, Portugal, and the Netherlands (yeah, they're completely different form one another, but I like each for different reasons). Anyways, if you or anybody else have information/stories/advice about studying abroad I'd love to hear it :):):)</p>
<p>My possibly choices were even more varied with it being Slovakia, Portugal, and Belgium. Anyways, I have way too many stories about Portugal to say here. I will say this though that the women of Brazil (and South America in general) are AMAZING. I mean, I know that may sound shallow, but they are incredibly good looking and also very fun. Also to consider is that in a lot of northern European countries everyone basically speaks English so it may be harder to learn the language compared to a country in South America (Brazil) or southern Europe (Portugal). If you go to Brazil, make sure you are there for Carnival (in February) as it will be the time of your life. Portugal was incredibly fun, so if you have any specific questions about it, ask. I have friends from my school who were in Italy, Panama, and Spain and everyone loved it. You will have a very different experience from even people in the same country. For example, I lived in a suburb of Lisbon with a very wealthy family (they had their own pool, large citrus garden, etc.) which is not common for the area, while my friend who lived in Spain was in the Canari Islands. My friend in Italy lived in the North and with a family who spoke 0 English (like mine), while the two living in Spain and Panama were both in families who spoke some English. The point is, everyone's experience even within the same city will be very different. I went for a big toss-up of which country to go to. It was the time of my life, I made many friends from the US, South America, Europe, Asia, and even Africa--who I plan on visiting this next summer. On top of that, the kids from my school who did AFS are attending quality universities next year (especially considering the academic history), so I would not worry about that too much. My email is evscott718ATgmail.com (replace AT w/ @) and my AIM is "personfl". IM or email me any questions and I'll do my best to answer.</p>