Thank you, Joel! Pleasure to meet you. I’m also in New South Wales, central west. Pretty small place, so I won’t go into specifics. ストーカーが怖いだからでーす！

I liked my experience! I left for Japan for a student exchange, and had homestay there. A month after Ryo (my exchange) made her visit I left. My time with Ryo in Australia was interesting. She kept telling me that my Japanese was “jouzu”, but I could barely speak a lick then. I made sure to study extra for that month coming.

We stayed in Tokyo for a night. When I say “we”, I mean the other exchange students. There were ten of us. I stayed with two boys who were some of the most embarrassing people I could have stayed with. Don’t get the wrong idea, it wasn’t because I think I am better than them in any way! I enjoyed being able to translate simple stuff for them, and their caring not for the Japanese language didn’t embarrass me at all. I’m not that bad a person (I promise!). I just didn’t get along well with two boys who played with bidets and were, to be honest, quite obnoxiously loud. As you know however, ’tis the Australian way. ^^;

There was on each bed a very thin, soft pillow on the bottom, and a very hard pillow that felt like it was full of rocks on top. It was certainly not the most comfortable experience, so I flipped them around through the night. I woke up and was late downstairs to meet with the rest of the students. We went searching for places to eat, and I found this nice soba place. I couldn’t read any kanji, so I tried my best to use Google Translate to write the kanji down and get a translation. In the end, I had no luck and just took someone to point to the one I wanted. It ended up being delicious, so all was well.

After Tokyo, we left for Minokamo where we met with our tour guides. Getting there was hard enough when none of us could read signs properly. Lots of directions were asked for by us. There was also a problem with our tickets for the bullet train, but I don’t remember what it was. Minokamo is a lovely little city in Gifu, and where Ryo lives. Her family is lovely, and her friends just as much.

We did plenty of things on the trip. Karaoke, barbecuing, school-going, and visiting surrounding areas (as far as Osaka) to name a few. We also climbed this “1000 stair” mountain of which my legs were less than appreciative. I was taken out to a few restaurants, including an Italian restaurant wherein the barista drew pictures of popular characters. It was pretty amazing.

So as not to make it all too long, I’ll leave it there. I hope when I go back, I’ll have learned (with the help of wanikani and textfugu; possibly etoeto by that time) enough to have some really meaningful conversations. I intend to go to university in Japan rather than in Australia for an odd reason: I wish to prove to myself that I am able to make a life in Japan before I try, and a university education can surely prove that to me.

Thanks again for your welcome, and I hope I’ll speak to you later!