Classic High School Exchange in Japan

My name is Angela, I am from Romania and I have participated in the high-school one year program in Japan [when I was 15 years old]. […]Learning the language from scratch in Japan made me feel like I was born again. I had the chance to learn again not only a new language, but new feelings, new emotions. I decided that I had to stay for another year in order to fully accomplish my goals there. […] It was more like an experience of learning about people and understanding myself in a different environment. My host family helped me a lot in this process. After going over a few cultural shocks and misunderstandings, soon my host mother became my best friend, the person who would not only teach me about Japan, but about life as well.

“Hello! I am Nandinzul from Mongolia. My Japanese name is Nami-chan. I lived in Japan for about one year. My host family, school, and the local coordinator were the most important things to me. I had two older host sisters and one younger host brother in my family. In my family in Mongolia I also have two older sisters and one younger brother, so it was very normal and comfortable for me. Of course from the start my host family was kind and happy. I didn’t understand Japanese well, so I didn’t talk much with my host father and brother, and my host sister Nonchan was busy with college and my host sister Kacchan was in France. So every day I was asked many things, for example “how was school today”, Mongolia culture, or various things, my host mom though it was really important to speak Japanese. Also every day without realizing my Japanese gradually got better and now I can speak with my family normally. When my host sister returned from her yearlong in France, we could talk about our similar experiences. It was great! There was not a lot of difficulties between me and my host family. I did have one difficulty during my stay, I caught a bad cold. My host mom took me to the doctor and bought medicine for me. With together my host mom we have cooked together, we gone out to eat at many places (because I like meat), she’s dressed me up in a Kimono, and took me to the ocean. Through these things we steadily became closer. I am thankful for this time we spent together. Of course I don’t want to thank only my family, but also my host family’s relatives (grandma and grandpa) and the local coordinator. I am super lucky that I got to meet such nice and warm people.

My first day of school, I thought that this high school was wonderful. We wore uniforms and I was happy I could experience a real Japanese girl’s high school life. It was difficult to make friends but I was able to learn interesting things from my teachers, I joined a club (I played the clarinet), and joined the school festival. At the festival I participated in various ball sports and singing. Also, the Japanese my principle taught me was fun. I am happy I came to Japan and met everyone. I was able to meet exchange students from various countries. The twelve of us only met once every three months but from the beginning we were always together and seemed like we were always good friends. We improved our Japanese together and did our best. I have made a lot of friends and now I want to visit a lot of different countries. At first, I didn’t understand anything, but I thought it was important to be with everyone every hour, minute, and second.  So from then on I tried harder and harder to speak in order to become a diplomat. For this year, for helping me open up my future, to my host family, school, thank you so very much!”

 Nandinzul, from Mongolia

“From a year ago, my world has steadily become bigger. At first I was a selfish person who didn’t care able the feelings of others. Because I did not open my heart, I had a lot of difficult experiences.  There was also a time where I thought about returning home, but then I realized that this experience is not only my experience, so I decide to stay until the end. I decided this thanks to my host family and the local coordinators that are always by my side. Because my teachers and my schoolmates all watch over me, I have not really gotten home sick. I apologize because I think I am always being taken care of and causing the people around me trouble. Because of everyone I have met and all the experiences I have, I was able to grow up. I am very grateful for them. I returned home, but I will not say goodbye. I have made a family here, so someday I want to come back. This year has been an irreplaceable time and I will never forget it. I hope everyone the best. Thank you and take care!” Andra, from Romania  

It really was life changing for Guy and something he will never forget. He made so many friends and most importantly, he became a young man and grew up a lot and became even more resilient and determined to keep reaching for bigger and better things for himself.
He gained a big sense of self confidence. In Japan, he realized that it was up to him to stretch and make sure he made solid connections with people and he really did that with all 3 families he stayed with, and then gained the confidence to engage fully at school. So much so they asked him to be part of their new flyer to advertise the school to new students!

In addition, he met lots of kids from different countries through the program and now is excited to make plans once travel can resume to meet these, as well as his Japanese friends, in the future, either in Europe, the US or Japan. Not bad for age 16! I believe his mind was really opened and he blossomed. Even though he went there to improve his language skills, in his mind, he actually got a lot more from the program than he expected but it was better than we hoped for as his parents.

I know that these programs are invaluable for their cultural educational opportunities and for improving education and giving young people a really strong foundation.