So today I have been in Japan for 32 days. It seems like such a short time, however it feels like ages since I was in Australia.
My first host family are really lovely and I am fortunate to be staying with them for 2 months. I have 2 older host brothers, who are studying in Tokyo and Osaka, and a host sister my age who boards at her school next to Mt Fuji during the week and takes the Shinkansen home on the weekends.
My host sister and I have done so many fun things so far. We have been bowling, gone shopping together, seen Frozen at the cinemas and we play badminton and table tennis a lot in the back yard. One of the best things was seeing the cherry blossoms at night, I was under the impression we were just going for a drive so me and my host sister were both in our pyjamas when we arrived at this really beautiful park, and there were lanterns everywhere it was so pretty!
My school is quite different from my one in Australia. The buildings are really impressive, even the school gates are painted black and gold and the school emblem, a maple leaf, can be found almost everywhere, carved into the staircase rail, on our school socks, hanging in every classroom with the schools motto and philosophy of the ‘frontier spirit’. The frontier spirit is also the school song which our principal wrote. Instead of a school bell, chimes play the melody of the school song to mark the periods.