【カナダ】ウェストバンクーバーセカンダリーより - Elina -
カナダから留学していたエリーナさんが記事を書いてくれました。
Student Exchange. Missing two months of high school for a place I have never been before and people I have yet to meet. What makes it worth the late nights I will have to spend catching up. Is it worth being left behind from your world?
When I first applied for this exchange program, I had no intention of coming to Japan. I only knew that I wanted to apply. Grade eleven is the most important year of high school when it comes to grades and I had no intention of missing two months of school. I was not going on this exchange even if I got accepted. I only sent the application to test my writing skills.
With no guarantee that anyone would be on the other side, I hopped on the plane alone. My decision kept me up for the whole of the ten-hour flight.
Tokyo, Japan
A city, often seen in science fiction movies. I was not looking to go drifting or meet Godzilla and I certainly did not expect to make real friends. My first week is sudden. It is a wonderful blur of new exciting people, in a backdrop I have only seen in movies. Of all the new things, the trees stand out to me the most. The wind making the shadows of sunlight dance on the pavement beneath the leaves.
On the first day of school, my teacher and classmates had planned a welcome party. These people had prepared a celebration for someone they had never met before. Anyone would be stunned at their gestures. My first day at kyudo, kendo and sado are no different. They welcome me and treat me as their own. The train to school is long, I only wish I could read the billboards decorating the walls. The assemblies are even longer. The teachers each take their turns lecturing us about earthquake safety. At least, I think so... I did not understand a word of their hour-long presentation and it seems no one knows what it was about. I can only guess from their funny-looking hats.
In the hallways, the girls would whisper to each other and giggle as they passed other groups and children in sports uniforms would rush to their clubs. The walls are plastered with information regarding student health and club activities. The teachers post announcements on our classroom whiteboard and the kids post colourful stories on their social media pages. These are all things I sadly missed out on. The language barrier proves harder than it seems.
My friends made all the difference in these times. I will forever remember their kindness.
The friends you meet along the way make anything worth going through. If I had stayed in my home country, I would have returned to school with the same one thousand students and the same friends and the same teachers. I would systematically continue towards a diploma like the other one thousand students. This exchange acted as a glitch in my system. It gave me time to recalibrate my goals. This all happened in two months. I haven't even written about our field trips or my Japanese lessons.
Elina (West Vancouver Secondary School, Canada)
