My High School Semester in Japan: Meet CIEE Ambassador Abroad, Lillian

Hello, I’m Lillian Gallego! I’m a junior in high school and live in the United States. Currently, I am on a semester program in Tokyo, Japan, and have been here for about 2 months so far! 

 Being an international student in Japan. What is it like? Well, it’s more than just a dream come true; it’s a learning experience that helps you become more independent and be able to truly live a life other than your own. 

My Japanese Host Family         

In Japan, I have been assigned to a host family. My host family is the Hakuzan family. I have my host mom, an older sister, a brother around my age, and a younger brother. They have all been very welcoming to me, making me feel like a true part of the family. 

 Although they are busy, they’ve made time to take me to many cool places. One of the first days I got here, my host sister took me to Ueno Park, and down to Akihabara, a large anime and gaming shopping district. Another place my host mom and sister took me to is Kawagoe. This town is known for its traditional architecture and for the koinobori it hangs up for Children's Day. My host family has even taken me to Round 1 for a day. There you can play sports, arcade games, do karaoke, and even more. It was tons of fun! 

While I’ve been here, my host family has even taught me about their traditions, such as Girls’ day and Children’s Day. They kept up their display of intricate dolls to show me how they celebrate Girls’ Day. Later, they put up a samurai display for the boys. 

Other fun things we’ve done are having parties with the neighbor kids where we all make a huge batch of dumplings or takoyaki and then play games after. Every day with my host family introduces something exciting. 

My Japanese High School Experience

For school, I was placed at a Japanese high school called Seiritsu Gakuen. This school is located in Akabane, which is actually about 50 minutes, by train, away from where I live. However, this is very common in Japan. Many people travel an hour or more to get to their work or school. 

I’ve found Seiritz to be a very welcoming school with very friendly teachers and students. Almost everyone I walk past gives a Seiritsu Gakuen, or hello, even if I’ve never seen them before. The students in my homeroom also like to talk to me about random things, which I find really nice. 

In school, I was placed as a first year, or 10th-grader, allowing me to escape the many college pressures second and third years have. I’ve been able to make tons of new friends at my school. There are actually 3 other international students who go to the same school. Two of them are CIEE students, and the third is my classmate from Italy. Since we’re in all the same classes, we’ve been able to help each other out and become very close friends. I’ve also become good friends with all the Japanese girls in my class. They’ve even invited me to hang out after school a few times! 

        Being on this program has really been improving my Japanese. I even locked in on kanji! My classes at Seiritz, since they’re all in Japanese, are very hard to follow along with. Thankfully, international students are given permission to study Japanese during their classes if they can't understand. After just a few days of studying kanji in my classes, I began to recognize so many kanji everywhere I went. I even understood some on my tests in school. 

Not all classes are fully in Japanese, however. I’ve actually been improving in gym class as well. For the past few weeks, we’ve been playing basketball in class. The first day I was a little shy and held back a lot, but as the third class rolled around, I began stealing the ball, scoring hoops, and gaining confidence just from having fun. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better gym class than that day. I also take part in music class, where we’ve been learning the school’s anthem and playing drum games. Since I’m already a musician, I’ve found music class to be really easy and fun! I’ve even excelled ahead of the class on our drum game and have been the first to play new songs on the drums. 

Recently, my school has had a few fun activities. A few weeks ago, they took all the first years out to plant rice in the school's rice fields. They also hosted a sports festival. I was put on the yellow, or きいろ, team and competed in a few events, such as the jump rope competition, centipede competition, and group dance. In the end, the first years on the yellow team (my group) placed #1 out of all the first years.

Making Friends in Japan

Ever since I came to Japan, I’ve made many new friends, both with the people in my program and in school. In our free time, we love exploring all over the greater Tokyo area, going to shops and trying new restaurants. My CIEE friends and I usually plan to go to big shopping districts on the weekends and then test our luck with the gacha machines at Kurazushi (a conveyor belt sushi restaurant). My Italian friend and I also like to hang out after school a lot. We usually hang out by the riversides in Akabane or explore cute cafes. One day we went to a cat cafe in Akihabara. All the cats were so cute! The girls from my class have even invited my Italian friend and me out to eat yakiniku, do purikura (popular photobooths in Japan), and to see the Adachi Fireworks.      

My CIEE Excursions in Japan

CIEE also takes its students out on fun excursions. So far, we’ve gone on a weekend trip to Kanazawa and a day trip to Odaiba. Kanazawa is on the west side of Japan, so we had to take the Shinkansen (the bullet train) to get there. In Kanazawa, we visited some very beautiful gardens and the famous castle that's in the city. While we were there, we also visited Shirakawa-go, a town hidden in the mountains that is known for its traditional and different-style houses. 

For our trip to Odaiba, we visited the famous Gundam Statue, a science museum, and teamLab. teamLab is an interactive art museum that is really beautiful. They have different sections such as a water, forest, and garden exhibit. 

What I’ve Learned During My Semester in Japan

Being on a study abroad program has helped me improve my Japanese and learn so many new things about the culture. It’s even helped me become more independent and culturally aware. Before I came to Japan, I was so scared to use the trains in my city, but now I ride them for almost two hours a day, all by myself, and surrounded by a language I don’t fully understand. 

I’ve noticed many similarities and differences between Japan and the U.S. Being able to have a mutual understanding of multiple cultures helps us to bring the world together and connect people from different countries and walks of life. In order to have a peaceful future and continue experiencing these different cultures, it’s very important to be understanding and open to their different ways of thinking and living. 

Overall, my experience here in Japan has been amazing. It’s definitely a life-changing adventure that helps you grow immensely into an independent person. Everything you learn while studying abroad will help you in the future, whether you return to your host country or not. If any of you have dreams to explore a different culture, don’t let the price hold you back. Fulfilling your dreams and gaining the skills of being in a new country are worth way more than any price. I’m excited to continue on this amazing journey in Japan and live my dreams to the fullest. 

Thank you, Lillian, for sharing your CIEE experience! 

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