【高校-コース情報】2A留学報告（ニュージーランド）
Kokona Kimura:
I went to the Orana Park in my English class. We saw a lot of amazing animals.
My English class has a lot of people who came to New Zealand from foreign countries. We brought food from our house and we shared these for lunch.
It was a great time!!!!
This month we had a formal party. We dressed up, ate delicious food and we danced. Japanese schools don’t have a formal party like this, so I had a great time with my friends.
I went camping for 2 night 3 days in my outdoor class. We climbed a mountain every day. I love the view from the top of the mountain.
My school had an international day on the last day of school. My Japanese friends and I made Japanese food and gave some to our teachers and friends.
We sang a song in front of everyone. I was so nervous, but it was fun.
I went to the Orana Park in my English class. We saw a lot of amazing animals.
My English class has a lot of people who came to New Zealand from foreign countries. We brought food from our house and we shared these for lunch.
It was a great time!!!!
This month we had a formal party. We dressed up, ate delicious food and we danced. Japanese schools don’t have a formal party like this, so I had a great time with my friends.
I went camping for 2 night 3 days in my outdoor class. We climbed a mountain every day. I love the view from the top of the mountain.
My school had an international day on the last day of school. My Japanese friends and I made Japanese food and gave some to our teachers and friends.
We sang a song in front of everyone. I was so nervous, but it was fun.
【高校-コース情報】2A留学報告（ニュージーランド）
Wakana Kishihara:
I only have 2 months until I return back to Japan and can see my family and friends. I will be glad to see them, but I also feel sad because I want to study here and I want to spend more time with my host family and friends. I will not be able to forget about the life that I had in New Zealand.
I had a costume day at my school. This day is a fun day. It is a day when students and teachers wear costumes, and then we make great memories together. Obviously, this experience has become one of my awesome memories during my stay in New Zealand. My friend dressed up as a princess from the movie, Princess and the Frog. (the frog was dead :-O)
At the end of Term Three, we didn’t have our regular classes. The ESOL class has a trip to Mt. Thomas. We went there for a a short bush walk. When we got there, we spent a nice time but it was also truly dangerous. First we were walking on the road to get to the top of the mountain, even though a teacher said we are going to come down the perpendicular cliff. I got a chill. It was like a jungle. We walked for about 2 hours there. But I think if I had stayed in Japan, I would not have been able to have different experiences like this.
I only have 2 months until I return back to Japan and can see my family and friends. I will be glad to see them, but I also feel sad because I want to study here and I want to spend more time with my host family and friends. I will not be able to forget about the life that I had in New Zealand.
I had a costume day at my school. This day is a fun day. It is a day when students and teachers wear costumes, and then we make great memories together. Obviously, this experience has become one of my awesome memories during my stay in New Zealand. My friend dressed up as a princess from the movie, Princess and the Frog. (the frog was dead :-O)
At the end of Term Three, we didn’t have our regular classes. The ESOL class has a trip to Mt. Thomas. We went there for a a short bush walk. When we got there, we spent a nice time but it was also truly dangerous. First we were walking on the road to get to the top of the mountain, even though a teacher said we are going to come down the perpendicular cliff. I got a chill. It was like a jungle. We walked for about 2 hours there. But I think if I had stayed in Japan, I would not have been able to have different experiences like this.
【高校-コース情報】2A留学報告（カナダ）
Nana Tomiyama:
In September we went back to school. Some people are doing online classes. We have many rules such as to sanitize everything that we use and to wear a mask.
I am so happy to be back at school again because I can see my friends and teachers again. I’m enjoying my school days.
I’m taking math, English, design, and cosmetology this semester. Design is a new class in this school. These subjects are interesting and fun!
Recently, I feel I have improved my English more than last semester. In March, it was hard to understand classes but now I can understand them.
In Canada, many people go hunting for moose, deer, elk, and geese. From September to December is hunting season. We have many rules in hunting.
My host father and his friend took me moose hunting and elk hunting. Hunting is so difficult. We need to be quiet and wait for them. When we go hunting, we need to call targets by making their voice. Male and female’s voice are different, even though they are the same animals. This is so interesting.
In Japan, we don’t go hunting so this was interesting for me. My host father told me many things about hunting, animals, and nature. When we can go hunting, we learn about them.
In September we went back to school. Some people are doing online classes. We have many rules such as to sanitize everything that we use and to wear a mask.
I am so happy to be back at school again because I can see my friends and teachers again. I’m enjoying my school days.
I’m taking math, English, design, and cosmetology this semester. Design is a new class in this school. These subjects are interesting and fun!
Recently, I feel I have improved my English more than last semester. In March, it was hard to understand classes but now I can understand them.
In Canada, many people go hunting for moose, deer, elk, and geese. From September to December is hunting season. We have many rules in hunting.
My host father and his friend took me moose hunting and elk hunting. Hunting is so difficult. We need to be quiet and wait for them. When we go hunting, we need to call targets by making their voice. Male and female’s voice are different, even though they are the same animals. This is so interesting.
In Japan, we don’t go hunting so this was interesting for me. My host father told me many things about hunting, animals, and nature. When we can go hunting, we learn about them.
【高校-コース情報】2A留学報告（オーストラリア）
Rio Nagai:
My life as an exchange student has almost come to an end. I still cannot believe that I am going back to Japan in 2 months. I can’t wait to see my friends and family but at the same time I don’t want to leave Australia because this is the place that has made me realize how different the culture in Japan is compared to other countries. Unfortunately, this year has been a difficult year to experience social activities. However, through experiencing a pandemic for almost 5 months in a foreign country, I came to think about my future and appreciate my daily life. I wouldn’t be able complete all of the school work without help and support from the teachers (Geelong High) and my host parents during this horrid time.
“Sleep Out” is an event to spread awareness and to experience homelessness in Australia. When most of the people hear the word “homeless“ they would probably imagine sleeping outside without a house. However homelessness includes people who couch surf and people who live in a car. Couch surfing is a temporary stay in someone’s home, typically making use of improvised arrangements. This is especially seen among teenagers who can’t stay at their parents house because of reasons like domestic violence, family issues etc... It doesn’t matter if you have a shelter to stay in. The main point of homelessness is that you don’t have a choice to stay in a safe, warm and comfortable house.
Usually people who get involved in “Sleep Out, sleep outside at school, but because of COVID-19, this year‘s rule was to give up your warm and comfortable bed. I decided to sleep in the garage under a table. It was cold and very uncomfortable. I couldn’t get enough sleep and it was difficult to concentrate at school the next day. I realized how lucky I am to have my own room and a bed to sleep in without any fear.
My life as an exchange student has almost come to an end. I still cannot believe that I am going back to Japan in 2 months. I can’t wait to see my friends and family but at the same time I don’t want to leave Australia because this is the place that has made me realize how different the culture in Japan is compared to other countries. Unfortunately, this year has been a difficult year to experience social activities. However, through experiencing a pandemic for almost 5 months in a foreign country, I came to think about my future and appreciate my daily life. I wouldn’t be able complete all of the school work without help and support from the teachers (Geelong High) and my host parents during this horrid time.
“Sleep Out” is an event to spread awareness and to experience homelessness in Australia. When most of the people hear the word “homeless“ they would probably imagine sleeping outside without a house. However homelessness includes people who couch surf and people who live in a car. Couch surfing is a temporary stay in someone’s home, typically making use of improvised arrangements. This is especially seen among teenagers who can’t stay at their parents house because of reasons like domestic violence, family issues etc... It doesn’t matter if you have a shelter to stay in. The main point of homelessness is that you don’t have a choice to stay in a safe, warm and comfortable house.
Usually people who get involved in “Sleep Out, sleep outside at school, but because of COVID-19, this year‘s rule was to give up your warm and comfortable bed. I decided to sleep in the garage under a table. It was cold and very uncomfortable. I couldn’t get enough sleep and it was difficult to concentrate at school the next day. I realized how lucky I am to have my own room and a bed to sleep in without any fear.
【高校-コース情報】2A留学報告（オーストラリア）
Shizuku Tokudome
June Report:
Recently the cases of Corona is decreasing in Australia. Quarantine finished a few days ago.
Of course, there are still restrictions for going out. If people don’t wear mask when they go out, they have to pay a $200 fine. I think it makes people nervous.
My host school decided they'll continue online learning until the end of term three.
I’m so sad because I haven’t seen my school friends in a long time.
We can see each other on zoom but communication on zoom is more difficult than talking to them face-to-face. So I started a new way to study English. The way is through reading news article and writing my impressions in English every day. I hope my English will get better by doing this.
I went to Ballarat. This is the city where my host sister and her boyfriend are living. It takes 2 hours by car. My host sister was driving. We were singing many movie songs on the way. My favorite song is ‘Do-Re-Mi’ from The Sound Of Music.
We bought KFC for lunch. This was the first time to buy KFC in Australia. The taste was not so different from Japanese KFC.
Australian seafood is a bit more expensive than that of Japan. I didn’t know why so I asked my host mom and she said, ‘Because most Australian seafood is for export. We don’t usually not eat so many seafood like Japanese’. I thought each country has its own food culture.
I went to Great ocean road chocolate & ice cream factory with my host family. I chose salty caramel and cookie cream. Australian ice cream is much bigger than Japanese ice cream. That was so yummy! I visited the chocolate factory for the first time. The experience was so fantastic.
We had fish and chips for lunch. There were many big birds. They were flying near people’s heads because they wanted to eat their food. That was a little bit scary. I touched the ocean water and it was so cold. My host father said to me, ‘If airplanes don’t move when you go back to Japan, you have to swim from this beach to your home’
In June, I’ve been thinking about discrimination because my English teacher had made “Black Lives Matter” as a theme. When I was in Japan I knew there are many kinds of discrimination but I hadn’t experienced it. During the middle of this month one of my school friend posted a photo on Instagram, then her friend commented the “n” word on her post. At first I couldn’t understand what was happening because they usually use many slangs. But the only thing I was able to understand was that my friends were enraged. This is the big experience of my exchange student life. From this time I’m studying about discrimination, especially racism, Feminism and LGBTQIA+. By studying about discrimination I have found there are many problems everywhere also in Japan. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I graduate from high school but I thought I want to study about those kind of things and change the world so that all people can feel happy.
Studying abroad life in 2020 is so hard but it’s not so bad. When I can’t go to school, there is much time to think about many things like my future, problems in society and many other things. To show my thinking or feeling to someone is not easy for me because sometimes I feel my words can hurt people much easier than I think.
But nothing will start if I shut my mouth, so I want to study and get the correct knowledge to tell people what I think is right and I want to be careful about not hurting other people’s feelings.
June Report:
Recently the cases of Corona is decreasing in Australia. Quarantine finished a few days ago.
Of course, there are still restrictions for going out. If people don’t wear mask when they go out, they have to pay a $200 fine. I think it makes people nervous.
My host school decided they'll continue online learning until the end of term three.
I’m so sad because I haven’t seen my school friends in a long time.
We can see each other on zoom but communication on zoom is more difficult than talking to them face-to-face. So I started a new way to study English. The way is through reading news article and writing my impressions in English every day. I hope my English will get better by doing this.
I went to Ballarat. This is the city where my host sister and her boyfriend are living. It takes 2 hours by car. My host sister was driving. We were singing many movie songs on the way. My favorite song is ‘Do-Re-Mi’ from The Sound Of Music.
We bought KFC for lunch. This was the first time to buy KFC in Australia. The taste was not so different from Japanese KFC.
Australian seafood is a bit more expensive than that of Japan. I didn’t know why so I asked my host mom and she said, ‘Because most Australian seafood is for export. We don’t usually not eat so many seafood like Japanese’. I thought each country has its own food culture.
I went to Great ocean road chocolate & ice cream factory with my host family. I chose salty caramel and cookie cream. Australian ice cream is much bigger than Japanese ice cream. That was so yummy! I visited the chocolate factory for the first time. The experience was so fantastic.
We had fish and chips for lunch. There were many big birds. They were flying near people’s heads because they wanted to eat their food. That was a little bit scary. I touched the ocean water and it was so cold. My host father said to me, ‘If airplanes don’t move when you go back to Japan, you have to swim from this beach to your home’
In June, I’ve been thinking about discrimination because my English teacher had made “Black Lives Matter” as a theme. When I was in Japan I knew there are many kinds of discrimination but I hadn’t experienced it. During the middle of this month one of my school friend posted a photo on Instagram, then her friend commented the “n” word on her post. At first I couldn’t understand what was happening because they usually use many slangs. But the only thing I was able to understand was that my friends were enraged. This is the big experience of my exchange student life. From this time I’m studying about discrimination, especially racism, Feminism and LGBTQIA+. By studying about discrimination I have found there are many problems everywhere also in Japan. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I graduate from high school but I thought I want to study about those kind of things and change the world so that all people can feel happy.
Studying abroad life in 2020 is so hard but it’s not so bad. When I can’t go to school, there is much time to think about many things like my future, problems in society and many other things. To show my thinking or feeling to someone is not easy for me because sometimes I feel my words can hurt people much easier than I think.
But nothing will start if I shut my mouth, so I want to study and get the correct knowledge to tell people what I think is right and I want to be careful about not hurting other people’s feelings.