Foreign exchange to Japan.

People who have been high school foreign exchange students in japan.?

• I am wanting to take my junior year of high school in japan. I was wanting details from people who have been foreign exchange high school students in japan. I have a lot of questions to ask. I know some of these questions vary from the school and town, but I just want a basic idea. So, here is a list. How much was your enrollment in the school? How much was the uniform? Did you enjoy staying with a host family? Do you make a lot of friends? Do you need to be very fluent in the language? Do girls have to wear bloomers during gym or just shorts? Are the high school physicals bascially like those in america? They aren't mean to you at school because you're foreign are they? What things do they consider rude that americans do? Umm...I think that is all I can think of right now....I would love additional details. Any information I can get is fine XD. I would love to hear a story about anything that you think i might find interesting about japan. Please dont answer to this question if you have never been to a japanese high school. Thank you.

• Answer:

  I am in the process of registering for foreign exchange in Japan for my junior year. I know you didn't ask for my answer, but who knows it could help. I have been to Japan so I know a bit about the culture. Price all depends on what program you go through. I am going through AFS and a semester is about 10,000 dollars (a little more if you bring spending money for yourself) and it is around 11,000 dollars for a year (plus any spending money you bring). This includes plane flight, school, and for the meals you eat at home with your host families. The food you eat out is expected to be bought by you. But don't let the huge numbers scare you, AFS has many scholarship opportunities and encourages your teachers and AFS staff members to help you arrange fund raisers. As far as what you wear it all depends on the school. From what I have heard it is rude to be really touchy-feely, not even a handshake. A simple bow will do just fine when meeting someone, or even greeting someone that you have met before. Also I have heard that Japanese people are very interested in foreigners "aka gaijin" and will want to get to know you and will treat you very nicely. Basically all the people I have talked to loved their host families, and you will have no problem making friends as long as you are not shy talking to people, because Japanese people tend to be shy. I was having breakfast with my Japanese friends, and they were really shy at first, but once I started talking a lot they got more comfortable about talking with me. I have only been studying Japanese for 3 months, but I have another year and a half before I leave, so I will be pretty good at the language. My friend barely knew any, but she had a month of really "intense" classes and tutoring that fit a lot of the language in into a short amount of time, and then she had a tutor her first couple months there to help her learn. But you would be surprised how easy it is to pick up on a language while living there (if you work hard that is) my friend came back practically fluent. So I would get started as soon as you can at learning, because the sooner you can interact comfortably in the language the sooner you will have a lot of fun. But by no means do you have to go there being fluent in the language. So even though I have never done exchange in Japan, I have been there and have been studying the language and culture for a little bit, and I have a friend who told me all about her experience abroad. You will love it, and hopefully I will love it too when I go abroad! Are you going 10-11? That's when I'm going.