My Summer Japan ExperienceAngela Padgett

At the end of last year I decided that I would like to travel to a foreign country. Ichoose Japan. My goals for my trip were to try as many new things as I could, learn thelanguage, experience the culture at the teen level, and make life long friends from aforeign country. I with a group of teens from America and Canada took the two monthlong trip of a lifetime.

While I was in Japan I tried so many new things, it was incredible. Being from asmall town gave me the opportunity to experience a wide range of new things fromriding trains with and without my host family, attending Japanese High School, andeating some really different foods. The trains were really scary at first because youhave to be very fast getting on and off the trains, know which is your stop, everyonewas packed in so close, they are on there phones or other electronic devices, orsleeping. The Japanese people stare at Americans like they expect them to dosomething crazy. After awhile you really get comfortable riding the trains. I alwayswanted to sit when I could because I walked so much, so I would like rush to a seatwhen it got empty. Although I would get up to let older people sit down. Overall thetrain was really fun and interesting.

As for Japanese high school, it was . . .interesting. I couldn’t really understand a lotbut the things that I did understand weregreat. I hated the uniforms they reminded meof something kids would wear in the 1950s. But hey the overall attending their high schoolwas a good experience. What I thought wasreally interesting was how the Japanese kidshad to walk to school in normal shoes andthen they when they got to school they wouldchange in to school slippers. At lunchtime wewould push the classroom desks together andthe students would serve lunch to theclassroom. The Japanese high schools do nothave the students change classes, theteachers are the ones who move fromclassroom to classroom. Angela Padgett, Calligraphy Class Nihongo School

I loved the Japanese food. My favorite was curry rice, I must have eaten it liketwenty times. I also liked gyoza (Japanese potstickers), hot and cold ramen, and stickyrice. But I didn’t like natto (fermented soybeans), umaboshi (pickled plum), and tofu. Imade a real effort to try everything served at least once.

The first month I was in Japan I went to Nihongo school to learn the Japaneselanguage and about the Japanese culture. School started at 10:30 in the morning and

ended at 3:30 in the afternoon. I would walk to the train station and then take a train foran hour and then walk for about fifteen minutes to get to the school building. The schoolbuilding was near the biggest train station in the world so there were tons of peopleeverywhere. Once I got to school everyone would divide into three separate Japaneseskill levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I was in beginner because I’ve neverpracticed any Japanese. It was really fun because we played games in Japanese. Wewould go out to places so we could practice the Japanese we were learning. Ourteachers had us do interviews with random people on the street. We had to ask fordirections to destinations around Tokyo that the teachers gave us. We would take apicture when we arrived and then have to make our way back to the school. Theteachers were really nice but some didn’t know very much English. It was okaybecause we got a new teacher everyday of the week to teach us something new. I thinkit was a easier language to learn Japanese then the language classes we do in theschools in America. They made it fun and gave us real life chances to use thelanguage and other life skills we had learned. It was a really fun experience.

Beginner Nihongo Class Angel Front Row on Right

I experienced so much of the culturewhile I was in Japan. Culture with thefood, the language, and other lifeexperiences such as attending a formaltea ceremony. I ate basically everythingyou could think of in Japan. I learned toeat really well with chopsticks. I ate riceeveryday. I sat on the floor in thetraditional Japanese manner for dinnerevery night. I also spoke and learned alot of Japanese. If I could speak what Iwanted to say in Japanese then Iwould. Both of my host families spoke agood amount of English so they wouldnormally know what I was saying, but Iwanted to practice what I had learnedand it was just fun to speak Japanese.

I would always want to know what something was so I would say “Kore wa nan deska?”. Which means “what is this?”. It was just such a good experience to learn asmuch as you could about their language. I did so many, many, many things in Japan. Iwent to the History of Japan museum and spent six hours there and still didn’t seeeverything. I did a lot of shopping, attended both Labo and Lex meetings. I wentswimming, to DisneyLand and DisneySea. I learned to write Japanese calligraphy,attended a tea ceremony, went to kareoke, a dolphin show, a magic show, the zoo, anda piano concert. I visited several shrines and temples and so much more. I had somany experiences that I will never ever forget.

When I was in Japan I made tons of new friends. I made life long friendshipswith both of my host families, I’m sure I will write to both of my families for years andyears because I felt like I got really close with them. I also made friendships with my

host families friends and family. They were all so excited to do things with me so Ispent a lot of time with my families’ friends. You really know you made some goodfriends when half the people are crying when you leave and they hug you over and overagain. I also got really close with a few people that I went to school with. My bestfriends were Mary from Canada, and Peter from Washington. It was amazing howclose everyone got. I’m sure that if all the kids from the Nihongo school went to thesame school in the United Stated hardly any of us would have ended up being friends. But it’s a lot different when you can’t speak English to anyone besides them a fewhours everyday for a whole month. I made so many new friends, I already miss themall, and I’m writing to a lot of people.

Overall, my Japanese experience was by far the best experience of my entirelife. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I did things I have never even thought ofdoing. I have accomplished things that I thought were out of my reach. I have grownso much as a person. I have a broader mind. I have more confidence in myself. I justcan’t wait to go back again.