Hey, this is Anna blogging again. I’m going to be talking about my home stay experience, and what I thought about it. Our home stay ended today and it was sad we couldn’t spend more time together with our host families. When I first heard about the home stay, I was a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect. My host family included 2 sisters and their mom. The dad had work and was out of town. I emailed my host sister after I received her email and started talking to her frequently before the trip. I got to know her a bit before we met in person. My family was extremely nice and welcoming. It was an hour ride away from the place we were staying and where they lived, but we talked almost the whole ride.
The next morning, we woke up early because my host mother and my host sister took me to a rural area away from Tokyo city to make our own udon. My younger host sister couldn’t come because she had school. I forgot the name of the place but it was very fun there. We even got to go fishing, and then cooked and ate it. It was such a beautiful place with amazing scenery. Through the home stay, I was able to try a lot of new things and learn more about Japanese culture. After taking 4 years of Japanese, I learned a lot of Japanese customs and habits, but I was able to utilize it and communicate with my family more. They were relieved when they found out I spoke some Japanese, and that I knew basic etiquette like what to do in a Japanese bath and what to say before and after meals.
To anyone that is thinking about doing a home stay, I would say not to worry and just be flexible. The families that host are very open to invite you into their home and want you to have a good time. From what I heard about what other people in our group, it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the experience and became close to their families. I would love to do a home stay again in the future, and might even host a student. The home stay was probably my favorite part of this trip.
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