Reminder & Check

All host families are different and all my friends had different experiences with their host family. I originally thought I would be spending a lot of time with my host family, such as going out with them on their daily errands or learning Japanese culture from them. Instead, my experience was very mundane. They spent the majority of their time watching television, going over assignments with their children and preparing for dinner. It was a bit difficult to communicate with them because my Japanese level was not as high and elaborating on topics was very difficult on both ends. But, before you think about seriously applying to IES Abroad for Nanzan University, you should check if their Japanese courses are align with yours. For example, Nanzan University of second year Japanese does not start off with GENKI 2, it starts off with GENKI 2 chapter 15.

I was glad I chose IES, because they took us to various locations that were popular in Japan. Fushimi Inari, which is a shrine in Kyoto, was probably one of the best ones in my opinion. Also, just be prepared to have a jam-packed schedule whenever you go on your trips. You do have a short breaks in between activities to rest, but at most we got around 2 hours to rest, which is not a lot when you are always on the go.