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oh, come on, jsut because no one responded in 3 hours doesn't mean the topic died

I'm stressed because this is my last year of high school and I probably wouldn't do a study abroad program in college because it will be hard for me to pay for that and college. gonk

Really? Where do you live? Lol Really? The campus is kinda fun mrgreen when I was in French Immersion at my older old school in grade 4-6 (but I think it was 4-5 because the teacher retired) well whatever, we went to Carelton and performed skits adn plays from things that we worked on biggrin it was so much fun but it looked confusing razz It would have been cool if you could go there razz 'Cause if I did go there I could be like "Oh my god! I know someone there from gaia" razz

Yeah well... I blame anime about it. She's become waaay too obsessed with it that she only talks about that, star wars, shark, and stuff and it annoys everyone. Like not many people like Anime at my school and I like it on a level, maybe obsessed like I have to finish the series and find out so I own lots, but I don't talk about it like her. In fact I rarely do because I get a bit embarrassed because people here are like "Ooh! Anime is for geeks and nerds!" though more people are not like that but people are. :p But I'm no nerd or geek. Don't mean to brag but I know like 2/3 of my school and many people know me and, from what I see, like me smile

So I blame those things because they made her a sadist. (She likes seeing things get ripped apart or brutally murdered because she thinks it's cool... confused like in a weird way...)

Ouch! That's a lot to Okinawa confused I would have thought less because for me a ticket to Tokyo is 5500 and to Fukuoka it's half of that. I'd think Okinawa would be cheaper. Well still have fun and maybe sometime you can still go smile Try Okonomiyaki! biggrin Unless I got it mixed up but I'm sure it was made there confused

On the 5th of September I'll be in grade 10. biggrin Finally I'm not a grade 9! Ha ha!!! Except I got my schedule today and it sucks :'(

I have in Semester one:
English, Careers/Civics (switches halfway through the semester), Enriched French, Spanish. Then it's switched on day 2 to first Careers/Civics, English, Spanish, French. BUT Semester 2 is: crying

English University AP 11, History, Math, Science. and then the same goes for day twos. crying They suck!!!

Anyways also I had a bad day today but I'm not going to say because this is about schooling in Japan, not about our schoolings and why our friends stood us up/ditched us for the b***h we hate...

But hey! You have to tell us about your time there when you get back! biggrin You'll have some insight into the schooling system too.

Just remember that no one will be around on holidays because they will all be studying at "juku" (cram school). The Center Shiken (test for the top six national universities) recommends that you study for several hours 6-7 days a week plus holidays at a Juku school plus the morning prep classes that private high schools some times have. I remember that my high school offered "optional" (AKA totally not optional) study sessions before and after school. If possible, go study abroad during college where students are much much more relaxed and easy to meet.

I went to a small town in Akita (northern Japan) and attended an all girls school (I didn't find out that I was going to the school untill I got there sweatdrop ).

Pretty much American = cool, so if you're in an area that doesn't get a lot of american visitors, you're going to be a novelty. It's a little bit scary (like I said, lots of "kawaii") but also fun. There's lots of different etiquette: bowing during greetings (and all of this greeting hirarchy based on grade-level and club affiliation), shoe rules (shoes off at the door, different pair of shoes for wearing inside thes school, shoe color shows grade level...), and other things like that. At first it throws you a bit off, but they know you're new, and help you adjust. Pretty much I went with a try everything once approach (even to the public baths) and I got along fine. They're happy if you try and are having a good time.

Language wise, I had taken two years worth of Japanese in an accelorated summer course, but had forgotten most of it. The English teacher helped me out, and I communicated fairly wall with everyone using a mix of japanese, english, and hand gestures.

I wasn't really expected to do school work, but I was sort of used as a learning aid in the english class. especialy helping with pronunciation. If you end up doing that, showing them how the tip of the tounge goes up for "l" lounds and down for "r" sounds is a big help.

I got along best with my youngest sister (8years old) because she was around the most and we could goof off with out having to talk that much. They love silly songs and such. Also, school work takes up a huge amount of kids our ages time, so helping out with family chores since you have to most free time helps you get along well with the family.

On a practical note, If you're a girl, try to get out of wearing the school uniform since chances are you'll be biking to school. I dodged the bullet because my shoulders were too brod and I was too tall for the uniform, but the other exchange student didn't and had trouble keeping her skirt down when biking. If you get stuck with it, lots of girls wear biking shorts under the skirt.

Oh, and beware of the toilets! The school toilets will probably just be holes in the tile floor, but you can figure them out. What you have to watch out for it the fancy toilets will all the buttons on the side. There is a lever for flushing, the buttons are for the beday. ((akira note: bidet – I had fun with this in Hakone! xd )) folks always forget to warn exchange students about it, and i think half the people I went with set theirs off by mistake XP

They let me wear jeans and a t-shirt to school, but they did have regulations about hair. It can't be dyed, and if it's longer than your shoulders, it has to be pulled back. You should also bring some sort of PE uniform.

In the mornings I would wash the dishes (no dishwasher) and after school I would fold clothes while my sisters were doing homework (they always had the Tv on, and japanese TV shows are hillarious, check this out). ((akira note: I had that in my multimedia until just recently! heart ))

There was one other exchange student, and and assistant language teacher (ALT), a college grad on a progam to help teach english. I didn't hget to hang out with my classmates a lot after school, but almost everyone is in an after school club, so you should pick one you like and hang out there. The school will probably tell you about them, and they'll welcome you in. Those can go on 'till 5 of 6 in the evening. After that I usualy hung out with my host family, but since you'll be staying longer, you'll probably have more of a chance to build up friendships with yous classmates (eveyone will introduce themselves to you, and it's hard to keep all of the names straight).

The'yre also very big on gift giving, and disney is huge in highschool (they love cute things, and somehow the playboybunny logo lost its meaning in translation and has been lumped in with cute things like hello kitty and doraemon,), so it might be good to have a sack of nick-nacks you can give away, it made me feel akward because I got a lot of gifts and didn't have anything to give back.

One of the things your classmates will probably want to do with you is a thing called "pirikura" ((akiranote: rofl )) it's like one of those photobooths, but will really advanced options so sou can add pattersn and write on them. Last time I went, everyone had one and was trading their photos around. I got dragged into like one a day.