AFS aims to provide 30% of our students with scholarships or grants
Find out about our range of scholarships, grants and fundraising
Find out about our range of scholarships, grants and fundraising
Visa is classified as a Temporary Stay Visa
You can live either in an urban or suburban area in Portugal. Expect to have a fair share of independence and responsibilities, like cleaning up after yourself and helping with the household chores. Portuguese families enjoy traveling together to visit their country house on weekends or spend time on the beach. Food is a big part of Portuguese life and a time for animated and long family conversations.
The main language spoken in Portugal is Portuguese. To help you learn the language, AFS will give you a booklet and audio files. Hosting schools usually provide students with Portuguese-for-foreigners language classes, either individually or in groups.
You’ll attend a public high school with other students your age, and you can choose to focus on science and technology, social-economic sciences, social and human sciences, languages and literature, or visual arts. Portuguese schools are challenging and have long hours, but they’re also a great place to meet people, make friends and learn the Portuguese language, history and culture.
Seafood is very popular in Portugal and other plates include meat, bread, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables. Pork, lamb, beef, chicken, and rabbit are all common sources of meat. You’ll also find lots of pastry shops with a world of sweets to discover and learn by name.
The PEACE Programme or PEACE through Exchange and Active Citizenship Education is a secondary school trimester programme which aims at empowering and enabling young people to become active citizens. The participants stay with host-families and go to high school in a European country. At the end of the programme, all participants of the PEACE programme come to Belgium for a five day long camp with a focus on Active Global Citizenship in Europe.