A Question For People Who Have Been On Exchange?

Question

I plan on going to Japan on exchange this year and before i go i want to know what to expect on my first day of school. So for people who have been to Japan on exchange (people who have been to other countries can also answer this question :D) what was your first day of school like?

If you are not sure what i mean, i mean answer things like these question:

How did you get to school?

What did you do when you first got there?

In your first class did you have to talk about yourself to the class?

Did you even go to classes on your first day?

What did you do at lunch?

Was it hard to find your way around?

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

It really depends a lot on your host family and your exchange organization. Hopefully they have made arrangements for your first day! With our kids, we have assigned mentors that take them around, make sure they know how to get to class and eat lunch with them. None of them had to do more than introduce themselves the first day of school. You know name and country.

Hopefully you will know who your host family is long before you actually get there. Write and ask them! In fact, write to them a lot! :) The more you get to know them, the better the relationship will be when you arrive.

For lots of helpful info on being an exchange student, check out this site:

http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

Answer 2

It really depends on your program and your host school. A friend of mine who went to Japan was assigned a buddy, who showed him around and helped him out.

I am on a exchange in Spain, and neither my school nor the host school was any help. I used google maps to find my school & my way around, there's lots of foreign students where I am, so no one payed any special attention to me, and I met people to eat lunch with.

Hope your exchange is more helpful than mine!!