Back to my Japanese High School!!!

Greetings from Japan~

After a long ride on the airplane, I'm finally in Japan!! I'm staying at my old host family's house because they are such sweet people and don't think of me as trouble :p
It's so HOT in Japan! Yesterday, when i went to my school, it was 35 degrees but with the humidity it was easily over 38 degrees!!


The next day I went to my host school Kanagawa Sougou Sangyou High School (LiSA) to see my classmates and teachers. It was a blast!! The only flaw was that I didn't have time to video tape everything. I did take lots of pictures though!
It was such a great time and reminded me of the time when I was there. Since it was the last day of school before summer vacation, they didn't have class and instead was cleaning the school and had a school meeting. Everybody was as welcoming as I remembered. It felt great to be around them and I literally felt like I was at home. Some people I didn't get to see on my last day were there too, so my wishes were completed. We had a mini class party with the Maple syrup snacks I brought. It was one of the best days of my life!!

Just got into the school

Class Party

Signing notebooks for my classmates lol

The school meeting

My teacher is too cute >_<

Dance Club! (One of them wasn't there)

Tobi~~ He was the Kendo Club captain when I was there!

Before being able to take our best shot, this happened...

Then this...

Then this...

 And finally this

These guys are from the Rugby Club at my school!! 

And this happened...

After school finished, I went out to eat with my friend!! It's been about 6 months since we were able to do stuff like this so we got carried away but it was so much fun!!

Her cellphone is incredibly cute >__<

First Purikura since 6 months ago!!

It was more enjoyable than I thought to go back to school! Some of the people I know have already graduated while others are about to graduate next spring. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to see them once again before everybody goes towards their own lives. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment down below!

Other ways to contact me:

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Instagram: @migoko2

Japan Student Exchange Q&A Part1

First of all, I would like to thank everybody who sent me emails with questions about my trip, thank you for reading my blog!! So many questions make me happy :3

I had to separate this into two posts so that I don't have a massively long one and bore you all to death.

Just a reminder: I'm not in Japan anymore! I came back to Canada in January.

SUBSCRIBE, Like, Share! :)

Q1. What academic requirements do I have to have?

This depends on the company you chose. Greenheart Travel has a requirement of a GPA of 3 but that's a system rarely used in Canada so I'm not quite sure what it actually means. My school told me it should equal to at least a C student, so as long as you're not failing school, it's fine.

Q2. How old do I have to be?

This depends on your company again but I've seen from 13 to 18. A lot of companies think that 19 would be too old to be in a high school exchange program but they usually have gap year options. 

Q3. How much pocket money do I need?

I had about 300$ per month. This might sound like a lot to some but if you think about it, you have to pay for transportation (train, bus, etc.) to school everyday (unless you walk or take the train), food which is irresistible. You have to base it on your own spending habits and add a little more to that to go out and have fun with your friends. 

Q4.  Can my parents visit while you are on exchange?

My company didn't allow my parents to visit and they had a limit of two calls (skype or telephone) max every month. My mom was really mad about this since she doesn't understand why they did that. The reason is to help you overcome homesickness since the more you talk to your friends and parents back home, you get more sad. 

Q5. How were you supported in Japan?

I had a counselor who worked for the company who met with me every month to talk about any problems I encountered. If there was anything uncomfortable (host family, host school, etc.), she's the person I should go to. She was fluent in English so it was easy to talk with her. 

Q6. Do I need to be fluent in the language? How fluent are you?

I think it's a good idea to know some of the language to survive better and to make the lives of people around easier too. In case of emergency, it's always better to speak in Japanese for people around to understand and react faster. It will make your life much easier too. 

I had six years of Japanese school training before deciding to go to the country. I'm Chinese originally so I could read the kanjis pretty well and I was lucky enough to have Japanese friends to practice with so I got around easily.

Please go to the next post for part2! 

If you have any questions I didn't cover, please comment down below or...

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

About my experience in Japan (Program, school, host family, etc.)

I received a lot of emails recently asking about my experience in Japan. I'm so so SO happy to hear from my readers and please keep emailing me :p

There are a few questions that come around pretty often in the emails so I figured a lot of people had the same questions. Therefore, I will try to cover as much as I can in this post. If I forgot something or you want more details, please contact me by the email address down below or comment down here!

Program and application

The program that helped me go to Japan is called Greenheart Travel (CCI) which you can check out by clicking here-->Greenheart Travel

They are a company based in Chicago I believe and they have programs for destinations around the world. As in my application for this program, I just found them online and sent them an email. They replied to me fairly quickly and I just bombarded them with emails full of questions. The representative from the company was very patient in answering my questions and she was such a sweet person. She helped me complete my application forms and contacted the organization in Japan (JFIE). We mainly communicated through emails, I just sent her my applications by email once I filled them up and it was just very easy overall. They do require that you have two years of Japanese learning I think (?) I'm not sure. If you have any further questions about them, you should definitely contact them! They have a rather strict set of rules though so make sure you check that out before signing anything!

I find it's really important to look at various programs and do a lot of research before deciding on one program that really suits you. I emailed three different programs and I decided to go with the one that I'm most comfortable with. 

Before going to Japan (language, packing, preparation)

I went to Japanese school every Saturday for four years before deciding that I was ready to go on an exchange trip. My goal was to evaluate my Japanese level and to improve it by speaking to native speakers. The Japanese level of exchange students vary so it's not such a big deal, but I think in order to enjoy your stay even more it's better to be able to communicate and understand people around you. It will be easier for you to make friends too!!

Packing... I hate packing... I'm so bad at packing you can't imagine! I didn't have any sort of plan when I was packing so my suitcase ended up with a lot of useless things, which is always the case. So I can't really say anything about it but bring the minimum of clothes and stuff that you know you will buy in Japan!! You will be living for months there so you will definitely buy things anyway.

I did some research about my host school before leaving Canada which isn't really preparation, it's just curiosity *tehepero*

I didn't do a lot of preparation except for buying gifts for my host family and some souvenirs for my classmates. 

School (making friends, school life, classes, clubs)

My host school had a rather close system to the North American high schools. We had no uniforms but most girls still wear "Nanchatte Seifuku" which is a fashion looking like school uniforms but actually not. Those clothes can get really expensive too! 

I had a home room class every morning with the same people but I was free to choose my classes. I chose a lot of physical education classes, as I've mentioned in my older posts. I do have some classes with my home room class, such as one of me gym class, chemistry, Japanese, etc.. Obviously, I'm most familiar and close with my home room classmates. However, I'm a rather outgoing person so I talked to a lot of people in my other classes too. Especially in phys. ed., it's easy to become friends with team mates. It also helps to join lots of clubs, it makes you meet lots of new people and new friends. I met a lot of people in sports clubs! 

School life at my school was pretty relaxed. I felt like most didn't care about their marks THAT much so even during exam period they were still pretty relaxed. I know other schools may be different though so don't take my word for it. People at my school were very outgoing too towards exchange students. 

Host Family

I think JFIE does a great job with finding host families in general. Mine was such a great family, I've mentioned in a lot of posts. I've heard about other students having problems with their families since it is a very different culture and life style. My family was very open about things so we got along really well. Getting along with your family is very important because you're going to be staying with them for months. It's always nice to have gifts and souvenirs when you first get to your host family and for Christmas, birthdays, mothers' day, fathers' day, etc.. It doesn't have to be super luxurious but something that shows you've put thought into. Of course, communication is key in most situations. Even if your Japanese isn't the best, still try to talk with your family and don't be afraid of asking questions because that's how you learn!

My advices

My advice is just to try new things because this is a once in a life time experience! If you hold yourself back, you will most likely be regretting it afterwards. It's always better to think "WOW! I can't believe I did that!" than "Ugh! Why didn't I do that!". Try your best to learn Japanese while you're there because that's just going to bring you so much closer to people around you! Finally, don't think that you're special and should be treated otherwise because you're a foreigner. This makes your distance with people enlarge and some might even not like you because of your attitude.



If you want to contact me for anything please comment here or

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu

Back home in Canada! Thank you to everyone...

As the title suggests, I'm back in Canada! My exchange trip has officially ended on January 11th which is of course very very sad.

I would love to thank Greenheart Travel (CCI), the company I went through from North America to make this awesome experience happen for me! The staffs are really nice and easy going. And of course, the Japanese group JFIE, who took care of me during five months, from my arrival to Narita airport in August to the moment when I walked into the security section on five days ago. Thank you guys so much!!

Host Family

My host family, Nagashima family, is the best I can ask for. I love them! They were like my second family. At first, of course I felt really nervous because it's someone else's house and you know, it takes time to adapt. However, I soon realised how great they were after the first hour I spoke with my host mother. She's just such a sweet person with a big heart and she was funny so I loved talking to her! ^.^
My host father is very hard working so he's always away on business trips. Despite that, he still tries to deepen our family bond by taking me to different places.
Finally, my cute little host brother... He's just such a sweet heart! I fell in love with him at first sight, he's a bit short and a bit skinnier than other kids his age. When we first met, he was too timid to make eye contact with me so he kept on glancing at me every three seconds haha!
Writing about them still brings tears to my eyes even now. I miss them and I definitely hope I can see them again!

School

My host school is Kanagawa Sougou Sangyou High School (神奈川総合産業高校) or as most of us call it, LiSA. Everybody was so welcoming and I felt so lucky to be a student at this school. My classmates were so nice and funny people I feel lonely even on weekends from not seeing their smiles and hearing their jokes. They were ALL my best friends!! I could laugh with them, I could tease them and I could be myself with them. I can't be like this to everyone in Canada, even though it's my home. Everybody in the clubs I joined were amazing too. Some of them I just cannot forget because I had so much fun with them.
The teachers were all very kind too. They were very patient despite the fact that I brought a lot of trouble along with me. I had different teachers for almost every class but all of them were such wonderful people and they gave me the energy to try and understand everything in class. The teachers in the clubs I joined were so great! I love everybody at my school, no matter how they thought of me.

I'm not very good at expressing myself in these kinds of situations but I just want to say Thank you to everyone! I had a blast in Japan!!

Japanese

無事にカナダにつきましたー！！今回の留学は1月11日にて終了しました。

アメリカの団体Greenheart Travel CCIと日本の団体JFIEに感謝の気持ちを伝えたいです。お陰様で、こんなに素晴らしい体験が出来ました。本当にありがとうございました！！

ホストファミリーの長島家にもすごく感謝しています。本当の家族みたいに優しくしてくれてありがとうございました。最初はすごく緊張していましたが、お母さんと話してすぐこの家でよかったと思いました。お母さんは優しくて、寛大な心を持っています。一緒に話すのが大好きです。

お父さんはいつも仕事で忙しかったけど、それでも家族の絆を深めるために休日にいろんな所に連れていてくれるのです。

あとはかわいい弟です！出会った瞬間に一目惚れしちゃいました(笑)。同い年の子よりちょっと背が小さくて細い子です。初めてあった時はアイコンタクトするのが恥ずかしかったので、私のことをちらちら見っていました。

今でも長島家を思い出すとすごく寂しい気持ちになります。

五ヶ月間こんな面倒くさい私を受け入れてくれてありがとうございました！

最後は神奈川総合産業高校（LiSA）のみんなにありがとうございました！

みんなが親切にしてくれたから、すぐ仲良くなれました。クラスのみんなが大好きで、週末でも寂しくなるくらいだったです(笑)。一緒に笑って、ふざけて、そして私が一方的にケンカを売ることが全部素敵な思い出になります。部活のみんなもとても熱心で、最高の5ヶ月間でした。

先生たちも良い人ばかりで、たくさんお迷惑かけまして申し訳ないです。

これからもどんな未来が待ってっているとしても、みんなとLiSAのことを忘れません！

LiSAのみんなが大好きです！！また会いたいです！

私はこういう感情を表現するのがあまり得意じゃないですけど、ただありがとうって言いたいだけです。

ありがとうございました！

I still have some posts that I'm working on about my experience so this won't exactly be the last post about Japan but once those posts are up, I don't know what to do with this blog but I WILL keep this going!! 

If you want to contact me for anything please comment here or

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu