From North Carolina to Japan for a High School Summer Abroad

Jerica A., 17, traveled to Tokyo last summer to participate in CIEE's Global Navigator Japanese Language & Pop Culture program, living with a host family and immersed in a new culture for a whole month.

CIEE Global Navigator U.S.-based team member Laura O. traveled to Tokyo and had a chat with Jerica during the last few days of program to learn more about studying abroad in Japan. 

CIEE: When you arrived on program, what was the biggest culture shock you experienced? 

Jerica: I wasn’t really surprised or shocked by anything. I kind of knew a little bit about Japan because I like anime and stuff like that. The hotel room was smaller than I thought it would be! But I got used to that after the first two days or so. Oh, and some buildings… Since I’m really tall, in some places, mainly in some [train] stations, I’m almost to where the ceiling is. It wasn’t hard, it was just like oh, wow! 

CIEE: What has your experience with your homestay family been like?  

Jerica: It’s really good. I’m with a homestay family right now. The mom and the dad are nice. They have a daughter. She’s kind of shy, but she’s really cute. She’s almost 13. We eat dinner together almost every night. My host mom, her name is Mika, she’s really nice. Every day, when I come home, I always show her all the stuff I bought, or I tell her what I learned and show her pictures of all the things we did [in class]. 

She understands English really well, but we only speak in Japanese. It's only when I don’t know how to say something that I’ll say it in English, and she’ll understand. The dad also speaks good English, so that’s cool. But we also speak in Japanese. I try to just speak as much as I can. 

CIEE: Have you made some great friends on program?  

Jerica: Yes, Aaron!  

CIEE: Do you feel like you’ll be in contact after the program? 

Jerica: Yeah! He lives in North Carolina too, like an hour and a half away [from me]. There are many people in our group from North Carolina. Maybe it's on purpose because there’s no way that all of these people from North Carolina are in the same group!

CIEE: Have you made Japanese friends as well? 

Jerica: Mmm, I mean my Program Leader. She’s Japanese! I’ve made friends at the school [where language classes are held], but they’re not Japanese. All the students at the school are foreigners trying to learn Japanese. So yes, I’ve made friends outside of the other CIEE participants, but I haven’t made Japanese friends outside of my homestay family.  

CIEE: What’s been your favorite activity? 

Jerica: I really liked when we went to the Sunshine Aquarium in Toshima, the one by Sunshine City Mall. I loved Ikebukuro and went back there twice after that, not to the aquarium, but to all the stores around there. 

I also loved Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s Koreatown. The food there was so good! Literally, that was some of the best food. I also liked the overnight trip to Nikko. I loved the hotel and the Onsen (Japanese hot springs). It was so nice. 

Oh, and Shibuya! Yesterday, we went to Shibuya. I loved it. I got these earrings and so much cute stuff there.  

CIEE: Being here in Japan, immersed in Japanese culture, do you feel like it’s helped with your language learning and your confidence? 

Jerica: I think it’s helped my speaking abilities and my listening abilities. Listening and comprehension. Because when I came here, I already knew how to write Hiragana and Katakana. I could read and write really well, but I couldn’t really speak that well. I can speak a lot better [now] than when I first came here.  

CIEE: What do you think of your teachers? 

Jerica: I loved them. They were so good. Every single one of them.

CIEE: How do you feel about navigating public transportation in Japan? 

Jerica: I loved it. Actually, I was a little bit worried about that when I found out that we would sometimes have to be by ourselves using the train system. So, getting lost at the train stations was a concern before I came here and during the first two days. The first day was orientation, and then, the day after that, we went somewhere close by and didn’t need to take the train. 

But then, on the third day, we did an activity meant to introduce us to riding the train and getting on and off. I was like, I can do this! It’s so easy. If you have Google or Apple maps, they’ll show you where you need to go and which station and platform you need to get off at if you need to transfer. A lot of the signs are in English, so that helped too. 

I got used to it immediately, as soon as finished the activity. Now after being here for a month, I feel like I can literally handle any form of transportation. When I came here, it was also the first time I flew by myself. So, planes, trains, buses, I feel like I can navigate them easily.

CIEE: Would you recommend this Japanese Language & Pop Culture program to other students and why?

Jerica: Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I feel like it’d be the same for anyone else who would come here. We had new activities every day and classes were really fun. 

If you want to come here and if you want to learn, improve, and get better, then yes, absolutely! There are so many cool things that we’ve done. 

It’s not just studying. We did fun stuff every single day. We’ve had so many cool activities and got to go to all of the major places in Tokyo.

If you want to go to a foreign country and study abroad, it’s perfect. 

CIEE Global Navigator summer abroad programs take place during two sessions between June and July. For three or four weeks, you get to experience life as a teenager in a new country, improve your communication skills, and make new friends.