The best way to experience Japan

I have travelled with WCI every year since 2013, and since 2014 as a program counselor. I would like to share my experience with WCI after 6 years of travelling with them. Before my WCI days, I travelled to Japan two other times, once in an academic context and once as a tourist with friends. In my experience, World Campus is hands down the best way to experience Japan, and an opportunity to develop yourself as a person.

The first main feature of WCI I would like to emphasize is the host families. Each perticipant stays with one family for each week, and it is amazing how deep a bond can form in such a short time. I have made many life-long friendships with my host families based just on the one week I stayed with them, and am still in regular contact with them. Staying with a host family also gives you something you could never get as a tourist - a close experience of the real Japanese culture. I'm not talking about the "billboard culture" that is served to tourists, but the daily lives of Japanese people, and by staying with three host families, you will get a good picture of their lifestyle.

We usually have participants from over 10 different countries, and I have also made many international friends for life from our own participants and from the Japanese communities we have visited.

The second main feature is the hands-on curriculum. By living the Japanese culture and participating in the local Japanese communities we become familiar with Japanese culture by doing rather than by reading. By living like the Japanese for a few weeks we also become more aware of the peculiarities of our own cultures, in everything from your daily routines to the structure of the family and community.

I would recommend the World Campus - Japan program to anyone who wants to broaden their horizons, learn about their own and other cultures, and meet great people.