PAX - Program of Academic Exchange is a program of PAX Laurasian Exchange and is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program sponsor.

Filipino settlin' in out in Washington

I am just a simple child that has a big dream. I expected to go to school, go home, do my assignments, and repeat until the school year ends. I did not expect this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be an exchange student to come my way. This exchange year will help me to mold my own personality. I will learn about the cultures of other people by making friends with them. I will learn different things from them as well as sharing my own culture.

I am so thankful to have a loving host family that accepts me with all of their hearts. They make me feel at home and are giving me different experiences here in America. They took me to ride a roller coaster for the first time, eat an elephant ear and chicken pot pie, and recently we went to the Olympic Game Farm and fed some of the deer and buffalo. They took me camping, which I had never done in the Philippines. I am grateful to my host family for all of those things. Lastly, I want to say thank you to PAX for everything. So far, I am enjoying my life here in America, and I am looking forward to all of the new things that I will experience here.

—Charles (YES, Philippines), hosted by the Reinemer family (WA)