Nanto Fukumitsu Japanese Cultural Exchange

The Host Family Experience

 

During the span of nine days, we enjoyed the experience of hosting students from Nanto Fukumitsu High School.  During their stay, we showed them how we did things in Australia on a regular basis and how different our culture is compared to theirs.

 

During the school week, some of us went shopping together and showed our students to places they’ve never been to before such as St Kilda, to see the penguins and to go to Luna Park.  On March the 10th, we all went to Puffing Billy in Belgrave for an excursion.  Although the train ride was short, it was memorable because we experienced it together.  On Saturday, we visited the Healesville Sanctuary, where we gave our students the opportunity to get up close and personal with Australian native animals.  On Sunday, we went shopping together in the city and visited the Victorian Market.  We all enjoyed browsing and shopping there, picking up a few souvenirs along the way.  On Monday, we went to Hanging Rock to scale the path that lead to the summit and we took many photos and had a barbeque afterwards for lunch.

 

Their last day was the saddest as we had to say goodbye to our new family members. It was so hard when we had to do it in Japan but it was even harder watching them get on the bus to headed to the airport.  We will forever treasure the memories and friendships made from the experience and urge all students and families able to provide home-stay opportunity to take advantage of it!

 

By Chloe Mangoendaan and Gemma Tori



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