The FLEX program offers students from countries of Eurasia the chance to experience life in the United States by living with a host family and attending an American high school. Aylin, a proud FLEX alum (AY24-25), recently shared her exchange story with us.
“My name is Aylin, I am from Estonia, and I was an exchange student in 2024/2025, living in Kingsport, Tennessee. I was placed in the Wunderink family with 3 younger host siblings.
In 2023, I applied for a FLEX scholarship, not expecting to even stand a chance to get it, but here I am! Receiving such a scholarship was a huge accomplishment for me, which I truly take pride in. It gave me an amazing opportunity to experience living on the other side of the world for 10 months.
My exchange year will forever be something I’ll be looking back at with a smile on my face, because that was the time I met so many great people, made lifelong connections, and found my true self. During my exchange year, I got to try a large number of different activities and deal with various situations, which shaped me into who I am now. Not only that, but I now also have a second family and a few close friends back there, who I can always come to and visit. My exchange year allowed me to expand my perspective by learning about a whole different culture and different traditions, of course, also teaching Americans about my Estonian culture. Living there for such a long time helped me understand how contrasting people’s lives can be simply because they grew up somewhere else, and I find it really fascinating. In addition to that, I believe I grew a lot as a person and even found something I wanna do further in my life, thanks to my host mom.
I also want to say that I’m endlessly grateful for the chance given by the FLEX program and the BFF placement organisation. Living in such an amazing family that helped me go through any challenges I had and were always so supportive of me was truly awesome, and I wish I could experience it again. Now, after I came back to my home country, I feel a lot more confident and proud of myself. I know I grew a lot not only physically, but mentally, became more independent, and learned a lot of new things about the world and even myself.
Here, back in Estonia, I am an active FLEX program alumni and also a Narva city (which is my hometown) representative for the exchange program. I am also currently enrolled in 11th grade in an Estonian high school and getting ready for college applications next year. During the program, I found my passion for psychology and am planning to apply for a psychology major in uni. Living in the USA for a whole academic year really inspired me to try to apply for universities there, since it doesn’t seem like something completely unimaginable anymore.
Lastly, I wanna say that the exchange program is and forever will be an unforgettable experience that shaped me into who I am now. I ponder it was huge not only for me, but for my host family and all the friends I got to meet, since it’s such a privilege to have someone so close to you, no matter how far they physically are.”
-Aylin Savtsukova
