Oh don’t get me wrong, planning for FWT is DEFINITELY stressful, but it’s also something you totally get used to. The FWT Office is great at helping students find jobs in any number of fields, and they can also help you get started with looking for housing and transport. Your fellow students are also a great resource for ideas - people get pretty creative with working out living arrangements sometimes. 

In my experiences, I’ve actually never had to secure my own housing in terms of leasing an apartment or something. My first year, I did a FWT back at home in Syracuse, NY and commuted from my house; my second job was at an elephant sanctuary in middle-of-nowhere, AR and there was free housing on-site for interns; and this past year I was doing an independent study while staying in Bennington, so I was able to get housing on campus. I would say that’s probably not representative of most students’ experiences though; I know places like NYC and LA are pretty popular destinations, and in those instances I think it’s pretty common for students to group together in groups of like 5 or 6 and sublet apartments from Craigslist or places like that. Then there’s also the option of couch-sharing - say your friend is from LA and you’re doing FWT there, with a little networking you can always try to work something out. Bottom line is, there are any number of options for housing over FWT, and you’ll explore a lot of them in the course of your four years here. It’s definitely challenging, but rarely prohibitive. I hope this helps, and if you have any other specific questions about FWT, don’t hesitate to ask!

-Evan ‘13