I learned a lot

I went to Japan through Langubridge program for cultural immersion and I had a great time. My host family, which consisted of a 4 year old, a 8 year old, and an 11 year old, was awesome and they always helped me out, cared for me, and were very understanding when I made a mistake in Japanese. It was really fun to be in a host family with young kids because they always engaged with me right away! Additionally, they took me to so many places that helped my understanding of the language. Not only that, but they helped me meet people that I could keep in touch with and I still talk to some of the friends that I made. And I still talk to my host family a lot and we even send each other care packages. Additionally, the classes were really great and we had a lot of chances to make friends and to learn applicable and important Japanese conversational skills, such as interacting with Japanese people and asking questions. Also, I felt like the field trips from the school allowed us to not only learn about the language, but to learn about the culture. I learned a lot of valuable things on the field trips that I still use today. This program really helped me become more of an independent person because even when just eating lunch with your friends, you have to find out how to figure things out on your own in a foreign country and in a language that I was not fluent in. I had a lot of great memories from this program, some of my favorites being going to summer festivals and eating ramen with my host family. I also built a lot of really strong bonds with people, which I really value from this program. Even after the program, it helped me become very independent, more curious about things, and it made me want to travel a lot more and see how people in other countries live. Some tips that I would have for future participants are that it is very helpful to learn at least basic Japanese before going. Also, to build strong bonds with your host family by offering to help and things like that so that you know you can as them any question if you're confused. Also, it is really helpful to go into the program very open minded because you will be able to try a lot of new things and meet a lot of people, and you will be able to enjoy it more if you have an open mind.