Memorable summer at sister school in Japan

By Reina Futagoishi
Clarion Herald, Contributing writer

My name is Reina Futagoishi, and I am currently in ninth grade at Ursuline Academy. This past summer, I was an exchange student for six weeks at St. Ursula Gakuin Eichi in Sendai, Japan, a sister school to all-girls’ Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, where I attend.

I got to experience a high schooler’s life in Japan. Although I am fluent in Japanese, I found every aspect of school life there to be drastically different from what I experience every day in America.

For example, high school in Japan is from 10th through 12th grade; I was placed in 10th grade.

New world opens up

Since Japan is safer than the U.S., kindergartners walk to school by themselves. Experiencing this for myself was quite a culture shock. School started later, too, but it took about 30 minutes to get there on the subway and then a walk to campus.

On my first day, I was very nervous, having had to first introduce myself three different times – in front of the teachers in the staff room; in the broadcasting room for the whole high school to hear; and in front of my classmates.

I was in the 10th grade class “013,” and my homeroom teacher was also my English teacher. My homeroom had 32 students, and there were four homerooms. So, the number of students in each grade was greater than at Ursuline in New Orleans.

I adjusted to life as a high schooler in Japan faster than I thought. All of my classmates helped me from the very first day. They were caring and friendly, so we bonded quickly. Everyone was interested in what life in America was like.

St. Ursula in Sendai used to be an all-girls’ school, but it switched to coed school 10 years ago. About one-third of the students are boys. It was shocking to have eight boys in my class.

English skills called on

On my first day of school, my history teacher made me read about American history in front of the class. Although I was nervous, it was all in English. I confidently read the article, and, after I finished, all of my classmates started clapping. I was shocked, but it was very funny to think about.

I often helped everyone in my class during English. My English teacher was also fun and helpful. She helped with other foreign exchange students as well. I got to meet other exchange students, such as a girl from Spain and a few people from France.

Instead of walking from one class to another as we do in America, all classes were taught in our homeroom classroom, with 10-minute breaks in between to give the teachers time to come to us. The only times I would move would be to my music and P.E. classes.

Another difference: At the school entrance, I had to take off my shoes and put on indoor shoes. We had our own individual shoe lockers for this.

The classes themselves were fairly similar to the ones we have at Ursuline, except for the start time. I had to be at school by 8:10 a.m., followed by self reading until 8:30 a.m., homeroom until 8:40 a.m. and regular classes. The school day generally ended at 4:30 p.m.

Immersed in school life

Assemblies were held every Wednesday morning, similar to Ursuline’s morning meetings. I also got to visit some of the clubs that the school offers. I learned that St. Ursula Gakuin Eichi is known  as the top school in badminton, so they have intense practices! The school band is also  award-winning.

During my short time in Sendai, I discovered two exciting events that really made me feel connected to the school. One was called “Excursion Day,” in which 10th graders took a field trip to the neighboring town of Matsushima. We were on a boat for an hour, visited a temple, ate lunch together and went to the Umino-Mori Aquarium.

The second memorable event was a high school wide volleyball tournament with girls’ and boys’ divisions competing against all the other homerooms. Sadly, our girls’ team lost and could not advance, but our boys’ team advanced and placed third. We were the only 10th-grade class to do so. It was my first time watching boys play volleyball, and it was completely different than the girls’ game.

My experience this past summer already has me yearning to do it again. It should be a priority of our school to form a relationship with St. Ursula Gakuin Eichi in which Japanese exchange students could attend our school, and more of our students could become exchange students in Japan.

Reina Futagoishi is a ninth grader at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans.