Reflections

My experience in Japan has been very unique because Kodama sensei brought us to her home town. We stayed in Fururu, the place where Kodama  Sensei went to elementary school, for 5 nights. There was a communal shower and bath where we got to experience some true Japanese culture and bond like Japanese girls do. This was the most unique experience which brought all of us closer than I ever expected us to be. Another activity that also created a strong bond was going for karaoke which my group chose as one of the topics for our project.  At our stay in Hakodate we did karaoke 3 times, tram car karaoke, room karaoke and karaoke at round 1. After the 3^rd time we went for karaoke I felt almost as if there was an unspoken feeling of a bond, as if I could trust these girls more than before because of feeling so comfortable and open around them. The duration of time spend with everyone on this group study in Hakodate has truly made us bond like Japanese do and because of this bond I didn’t feel homesick at all. The uniqueness and ever unchanging traditions of this small city truly encompasses Japanese culture value of stability and being stagnant.