My Homestay Experience

Hello, I am Andrew Kitchens, a short term EAI student from Central Pennsylvania studying at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois. During my time at TCU I got to experience a weekend homestay with a Japanese family. My host family was super welcoming from pickup to drop off and really made me feel at home during my stay. Over the weekend we went to the zoo, gokarting, church, conveyor-belt sushi, and Boso-no-mura (outdoor museum of a traditional Japanese town), and more. During my stay, I was also able to practice my Japanese by talking and playing with the kids and family, they were all super patient with me and taught me lots.

The food during my stay was delicious, for dinner my host mother made Inari, Japanese pumpkin salad, and more. After dinner I got to play some games with the kids and family. We even got to do some bilingual worship together, we all knew different instruments and it was super fun. It is hard for me to pick my favorite memory from my homestay, but I really enjoyed getting to play with the kids. When it was time for bed we were already tired from the day and went to get some rest for one more day of fun.

The next morning we went to their home church, which was all in Japanese. After, we went out to conveyor-belt sushi and then to Boso-no-mura. Even though it was a little rainy we still had a great time. We got to paint pottery and explore the village together. It was really cool to see the traditional Japanese architecture in the buildings. After we had explored we went to Familymart and got icecream and headed back to TCU.
The homestay was by far the best experience I had while in Japan. During my time I really felt like a part of the family and am super grateful for my host family. When it was time to leave, tears were shed and memories were made that I will never forget.
Much thanks to my host family.