My Time in Japan as a Foreign Exchange Student
During the summer of 2010, I was a foreign exchange student from the US.. Spent a bit of my time in Tokyo, then took another flight from Narita airport to Naha, Okinawa to meet my host family (I miss them so much! ;A;). I thought I'd share a few photos from my trip! I apologize for them not being high quality, I took them with an old Lumix digital camera.. ^^; Enjoy!
Just entering Akihabara!
My friend and I, hopping out of the hotel that our foreign exchange program placed us in for a few days.. ^^;
The arcade games here in Japan all look so fun~
I was alllll over the recent Vocaloid game! I was at the Sega Arcade the first day this game was open!
My friend Yoshio and I. We often sat together during lunch and endlessly talked about Evangelion... Hahaa ^^;
My school's festival was an absolute blast! (^^)v
My classmates in いちのななくみ! (Class 1-7)
This is my host brother and I, we visited a historical place called "Shuri Castle."
My desk setup in my host family's house. ^^
A very unique experience I'm sure. What questions did the Japanese students ask you? I have a brother teaching English in Japan and his elementary students ask him about candy.
They were all extremely interested in how Americans interact in relationships n' such, ha. ^^; It was difficult to explain! I had a girlfriend at the time, back in the US. This is a conversation I vividly remember:
Yui: "So Americans.. Do they... *looks at friend and makes a silly hand gesture* uh... hug?"
Me: *laughing* "Yes, many Americans hug."
Group of girls listening: "Ehhhhh?!? Sugoi!!!"
They also asked the same about holding hands, etc. and they were all completely amazed.
Relationships are a delicate thing in Japan. In school, they were always so discrete about it. I couldn't tell if two students were dating unless one of my friends told me!
That's insightful. I heard that in Japan, when a couple first dates, they already consider each other boyfriend and girlfriend. While in US, depending on the couple, they're not boyfriend/girlfriend until whenever they agree to it. lol
As far as I know in Japan, much of the time people stick to their own gender friends, and don't really hang with other genders. At least this is what I've heard from people in Japan ^__^;;
That being said, they would find it different if friends hug and consider each other a couple quickly.
I have this tie, I would often wear it to school myself- of course, I was a exchange TEACER not an exchange student!
And I cannot type. AN exchange teacHer.
GENKI! That was the textbook I used my first year in Japan...
...I also have a MacBook White.
Genki was pretty useful while I was there! ^^ Learned quite a bit from it.
Looks like you had a great time in Japan! ^^
Absolutely! I cannot wait to go back someday. :D
Ah man! Looks like u had loads of fun! ^_^
Look at you. Towering over the Japanese. Show your superiority. LOL jk. :D
This comment made me laugh pretty hard... XD
They really aren't that tall, you're right! ^^; Although a classmate of mine (who also wants to be a UFC fighter in America.. Just a sidenote, ha.) was significantly taller than me. He always took me down in Judo class. ><;
A kingdom hearts or Phantasy Star arcade game? It could be something totally new.
So jealous! I would have love to do an exchange student program when I was younger! *totally blames parents* looks like you had an awesome time! ^^
I badgered my parents about it for years on end, believe me. They finally caved and said if I could win a scholarship, then I could go. Score!! (^^)v I won the "Japan-American Friendship Scholarship." (JAFS)
Lol lucky ^^ my parents have never really cared fo my obsession with japan and it's culture so no matter how much badgering I doubt highly that they would have let me go lol. But ah well I'm old enough now to save up and go over there by myself ^^ x3
Why do I think of facehuggers when you mention host families and host brothers? :3
Looks like it was an amazing experience though :o Did you know a lot of Japanese? Did you speak it to them or were they fine with English?
At the time, I was way better at listening and understanding the Japanese spoken around me, rather than speaking it myself. I think I was a bit embarrassed or worried about making a mistake. ^^;;
I kind of regret not taking all the chances I could, though! Better to try and fail, rather than never try at all, y'know?
That's not to say that I was completely silent, though. I was pretty talkative! :D I was also used as an example during English class... XD They had me read passages from a book they were learning from.
My friend Yoshio, the one you can see me standing with in uniform, understood English very well. ^^ We hung out all the time after school.. *sigh* Here comes the nostalgia... On my last day of school, he walked with me to the traffic light before the bus stop. It suddenly hit me that I was going home, and I started crying.. I felt like an idiot, but then I turned around and he was too...
(Sorry for getting off-topic.. ^^;)
Well, I was there for nearly three years, and my current residency period is valid until the end of 2013 when I need to renew. Japan is very much home, and I plan to return there. Graduate school was simply going to be too expensive to do there though...
I hope to try for an academic year in Japan next year, if possible... Then maybe even to live there for a longer period of time after I receive a degree.. :)
Aww man, that's such an awesome story ;__; Going back there this July/August for WonFes/Comiket myself ^^ Hope that's not the last you see of Yoshio, he sounds awesome!
Japan grows on you very quickly. I spent 3 weeks this time and found it so hard to leave. Going back in April for another 3 weeks and I can't wait!
I'm jealous! I'd love to be a Foreign Exchange Student in Japan.
Was it hard adjusting to the lifestyle over there?
There was definitely a tad bit of culture shock, but it quickly dissolved after a couple days. :)
It was just a bit rough going to school so early, then sometimes not arriving home again until 7pm! I was so tired the first week.. ^^;
That's awesome! How was it living with a host family? I'm curious because I'm most likely taking a internship in China (Yeah I know, different country) later this year and I can do 2 things, live with some relatives there (which commuting would suck) or live with a host family (which is a 5 minute walk).
I wasn't too sure what to think about living with a host family before I arrived there either, it was such a toss-up. Would they be kind and welcoming? Would they be strict and expect me to be a proper, straight 'A' student? I tried not to dwell on it too hard.. :3
When I met them, it all dissolved away. They were a kind bunch, and took me in with open arms. My host brother and I were great friends, and still keep in touch. My entire family LOVES soccer, so we always stayed up late and watch the FIFA games that were going on.. ^^ I'm gonna stop, or else I'll keep going way off topic with my nostalgic rants, haha.
To sum it up, I'd definitely take the opportunity to live with a host family. Especially if you don't want to do a painful commute to get to where you're going. ^^
THey don't shrink-wrap very neatly :P
I was surprised by it too, but it's actually not the publisher's fault in any way. The stores shrink-wrap the books themselves, or so I witnessed, ha. I was in a bookstore called "Tsutaya," and this employee was putting the books through a machine to shrink-wrap them and put them on the shelves. *shrug* It doesn't affect the book at all, really. :3
leave them shrink-wrapped like that long enough it will :P the publisher should shrink-wrap the books~ they do for the Taiwan licensed version of K-on comics so far, and do so very nicely.
I bought Hayate no Gotoku 23-24 and left it shrink-wrapped for a while and the page starts to take shape of being compressed.
ah, sweet. i still have my intermediate Genki book :D
Looks like a blast. Want to visit Japan one of these days.
Hope you had fun :)
Like everyone else said it looks like you had a great time being there and it seems like you meet a lot of good people. One thing I always thought was awesome about being a foreigner there is being able to participate in the School Festivals they seem really fun. I can imagine how hard it was when you realized you had to go back to the US, heck it was hard for me to want to go back to the US when I visited Philippines for 2 months.
DEADMAN WONDERLAND !!!!!!!!!
Heck yeah!! ^^ I have the first three books in Japanese, it's pretty great!
your exchange student trip to japan really makes me feel like i should try to go there too.
I'm just starting college next year but one thing that really worries me is my lack of japanese skills. Heck, I'm chinese (abc-american born chinese) and i'm nervous speaking chinese because i feel like i'll mess up what i say since i only learned chinese in highschool for reading and writing. (can listen well, speak....ok i guess enough to be understood anyways)
I wish I had a proper japanese class here.... sighs
Don't let that bother you. My first trip I only new a handful of words and everything was ok. If you really want to visit Japan, let nothing stop you least of all you yourself.
^^ your pics felt very nice, indeed it was a nice time in your life.
I'm glad for you making these memories ^^)b
The entrance to paradise!
i envy you ._.
im too old to go over to a school in Japan now. when i leave university ill be 22. T_T
I was an exchange student and I was taken in by some family. and I did like visiting maid cafes... when I was 14-16. I enjoyed it and the teachers did challenge my brain. Until an incident involving one of the maids and a cookie and a banana.
Dude, you just had one of the BIG experiences in your life and at such a young age too. Hope you treasure it and get a chance to go back.
I hope to go back for an academic year sometime soon.. ^^ Maybe my sophomore year of college. This is definitely something I will always treasure..
I would really like to hear more and see more pictures! Any additional write ups?
I'm sure i'll be doing some more posts soon on this, I have plenty of pictures, videos and stories to share! ^^
You're an ALT? I'd love to hear about your experiences! :D
I went to this place too when I was a high school student as a school trip.
Ah, really? ^^ It's a pretty cool place, I enjoyed it. :) I didn't know a whole lot about the history of Okinawa, and I was really happy to go there and learn a bit. :D
Omg that was cool! Btw cool photos~ And u are so cute lol u have an awesome face
Awe, jeez.. ^-^ Haha, thank you, you're too kind. :D
Np, I'm just saying the truth :D Btw where do u live?
Oh, sorry, I forgot, U live in US lol
Cool experience you had as a foreign exchange student !
Looks so fun :) hope one day I can go visit japan too when I'm older :D
Here's hoping you post more. It sounds like you had a lot of fun! うらやましい〜 I'll be going to Japan hopefully next year for study abroad myself. :3 What were the things you found hardest to adapt to?
I'll be uploading more soon. ^^ Thank you!
Here's to hoping you'll have the opportunity to go. (^^)v
Hmmm... :3 The hardest thing... I think it'll depend on the person, and how open they are to new experiences... For me, it was honestly the language barrier. Not so much that I couldn't speak a word (I could speak a decent about of conversational Japanese), but the fact that I just... Wasn't able to read everything that was in front of me. And that frustrated a grammar-spaz such as myself. XD But hey, it was great inspiration to get better, that's for sure! ^^
How old were you when you went to japan?
I was 17. ^^
yeah shining hearts cross, was too lazy to get a card for playing it^^