Reflection of My Exchange

1 Year Passed
How it Affected My View

Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I've written a post about my exchange.

Q: Was it hard transitioning from your exchange life to your "ordinary" life?
A: After returning to the United States, I vividly remember being ecstatic about telling my friends and family about my exchange. After the second week of being back to the same routine, I found it incredibly hard to fit in with my friends. This wasn't due to drastic changes to my friends while I was away; rather, I had been the one that changed so much. An example: throughout my entire exchange, I wanted a boyfriend. When I came back home, boys liked me but I had little to no interest -- finishing school was my main focus. Friendships began to feel mediocre. The commute back from school: exhausting. Seattle: small, insignificant.

But, I know people that studied abroad, returned to their home country, and had absolutely no problems with fitting in with their cliche. I also know people that lost a lot of weight after coming home because they were homesick and wanted to go back to Japan. So, it can go either way. I think this is partially due to the fact that, as an exchange student, you're constantly busy. At least that was the case for me: I was always busy. Weekends: busy. Summer break: busy. My chapter organized a lot of activities for us exchange students: camps, speech contests, mochi making, etc.

Who can say, "I have friends all over the world," especially in high school? While studying abroad, I realized that friendships come and go. Friendships are a convenience: when you're in high school, you have friends in different classes: when you're at a job, you make friends to make the job easier. Even though I don't talk to many of the friends I made during my exchange, I would still consider them very close.

Q: Did you graduate on time?
A: Yes, I did graduate on time. During my entire exchange, I documented everything: tests, homework, classwork, textbooks. If this is a deciding factor, I would say contact your counselor before you leave. Make sure you have passed all of your standardized tests, state test requirements, and important school requirements. My school counselor retired the year I left for Japan, so it's tricky explaining my situation. For a year and a half, I took a class (Yearbook) during study hall, which gave me more credits in the electives department. So, after I studied abroad, I had to only take 3 classes: 11th grade history, 12th grade LA, and American Government. I graduated with 15-20 more credits than I needed.

Q: So, what did you do after high school?
A: I didn't concentrate on college/university requirements while I studied abroad. This is mostly because I wanted to concentrate on my experience: learn the language, make friends, create memories, and break negative stereotypes about Americans. So, after I graduated, I decided to take a year off to discover myself and learn how to become a little more independent. In 2015, I had an internship, worked a seasonal job, and later landed a full-time job. In April of this year, I decided to take one class at a community college and work part-time. I wanted to volunteer more with the AFS program, but with school, work, and friends/family, it's pretty difficult. Hopefully this year, I can participate in the presentations, directed by an AFS volunteer, at my old high school.

Q: What will become of this blog?
A: I don't exactly know. I don't think anyone actually views this anymore because I haven't posted in forever. Even though I took English this quarter, my grammar is still awful - I apologize. For any exchange stories, I will posting them on my other blog. That blog has more character, and not formal at all.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read this article!
And I also want to thank everyone for making my study abroad experience possible by donating, and supporting my dreams by buying things from my fundraisers. Thank you to the scholarship donors. Thank you to AFS Greater Puget Sound for being so kind to me.