私はミシガン州のLakeview という場所で１年間過ごしましたが、そこはなんと人口が1,000人に満たない田舎でした。のどかで、みんなとてもやさしく、助け合いながら生活を楽しんでいて、シティーボーイの私には本当に驚きでした。でも、アメリカに着いてすぐの私は、何を話しているのか理解できず、その上、いつも仏頂面だったせいで誰にも相手にしてくれませんでした。この状況を変えてくれたのは、留学中に出来た親友との出会いでした。彼は私とは対照的でいつもフレンドリーで英語もネイティブレベル、クラスメイトに面白い話をしてみんなを笑顔にしていました。彼からいろんなアドバイスをもらい、見よう見まねでみんなと話すようにしたら、何とかみんなを笑顔にすることができました。この経験から、笑顔でいることの大切さ、その国の言語を話すことがどれだけ大切なのかを学び、自分に対して大きな自信がつきました。また、そういう経験をさせてくれた、留学先で出会った先生方や友人、ホストファミリーには感謝しかありません。

If I had to choose my best memory from my exchange year, I would say that wrestling was the best experience I’ve ever had before. To begin with, wrestling, which was a sport that I had never done before, changed me a lot. At the beginning of the wrestling season, I was nervous but my teammates and coaches kept encouraging me to keep pushing myself. After all, I not only didn’t quit, but I entered some wrestling competitions. Wrestlers usually practice from three to five-thirty and, during this practice, everyone will lose an average of 3 pounds, which is about 1.5 kg. We ran, lifted weights, wrestled, and did other things to get stronger. Through this practice and wrestling meets, I am convinced that I got stronger both physically and mentally. I feel more confident about myself and I can concentrate on things better than before. Also, the weight management part made me learn how to control myself and to be strict with myself. One day before the meet started, it was mandatory for us to cut weight to make our weight class. In my case, I needed to cut 10 pounds, which is about 4.3kg. To do that, I had to refrain from drinking and eating much before the meeting day. Thanks to this, I got more patient and became much more able to control myself, which is good for me because I used to lack these abilities.
Furthermore, I had many enjoyable experiences. We wrestled as individuals and as teams. When we wrestled as a team, everyone became excessively excited and supported their teammates by shouting their names. One day, we had a team district wrestling competition. I could not participate during the finals, but I was super excited the whole time. I shouted their names and things like “You got this!”, and “You can do it!” I will not forget that scene in my life. Everyone who was watching the game, even the teachers, was screaming and getting overly-excited.
I promise that I will never forget these experiences and the ways wrestling benefited me. I may never wrestle again but wrestling is one of the elements that make up who I am. I want to thank everyone who supported me during the wrestling season from the bottom of my heart. Without them, I wouldn’t have accomplished anything.

留学するまで、私達は留学を甘くみていたと思います。留学に行ったら英語力も上がるし、何より海外での生活は楽しいことがいっぱいだと思っていたからです。出発当日、私は最悪のスタートを切りました。、飛行機の搭乗手続き、書類提出、何もできず絶望しました。ホストファミリーとの会話も不安で毎日夜中に目覚めました。焦っていましたが、気持ちはどんどん下がっていきました。毎日必死に使えるフレーズを調べましたが、瞬時に使うには時間がかかり、留学前の自分の意識の甘さを後悔しました。
3ヶ月後、私は別の州へ移動しましたが、その頃には以前のような焦りはありませんでした。留学で重要なのは英語力ではなく、伝える努力をすることだと気づいたからです。文法や単語を間違えても海外の人は笑わないし、理解しようとしてくれました。分からない単語があって、会話が止まることもありましたが、知っている言葉で一生懸命伝えたら、きちんと伝わりました。わかってもらった時は本当に嬉しかったです。留学前、私は英語で話すことが苦手だったし、間違いを見られることがとても嫌でした。でも他国からの留学生も現地の人も私の英語力ではなく、私の人柄を見てくれていると気づきました。卑屈になって話すことを怖がっていたら相手にそれが伝わって距離感がずっと縮まらないので、とにかく話すことが本当に大事だと思いました。

The best thing in Canada is that I made new friends and became part of a new family. At first, I felt anxious about everything. I also struggled when I first met my host family. I couldn’t understand them well and I just smiled. It was awful! I was too afraid of making mistakes and couldn’t speak. In this regard, my host family helped me a lot. They talked to me a lot, read books to me, and answered my questions to help me improve my English. Thanks to them, my listening and speaking skills improved in about three months. We did a lot of fun activities together, too. First, I encountered many animals. I saw horses, donkeys and cows. I fed them almost every day doing chores. This is a precious experience I couldn’t have in Japan. Second, I did Taekwondo twice week. I didn’t know Canadians did Taekwondo because it is a Korean martial art. It was so fun and I’m glad my host sister and I could get yellow belts. Finally, I went to church to see a baptism with my host family. It looked simply but it was also mysterious. My life in Canada would have been harder if it weren’t for my host family, so I’m very grateful to them.
My school in Canada has the same classes every day, so it was really important to choose which classes to take. Drama and gym were fun because I had friends in those classes. Drama was my favorite class because the teacher was a very nice and funny person. She can change her voice like a voice actor and she is a good actress. Meeting everyone in the drama class was really good for me because I talked to everyone in the class. I enjoyed preparing and discussing presentations with them. I loved that time the most.
It is a miracle that I was able to go to Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic and I think it was also a miracle that I met those wonderful people in Canada. Thanks to them, I felt comfortable and happy during my life in Canada.

私は一年間の留学を通して、様々な人と交流し、自分について深く理解し、そして、新しい価値観を得ることができました。カナダに来る前は「友達出来るかな、英語わかるかな、授業ついていけるかな。」と不安しかありませんでした。カナダ到着後、ホストファミリーが遊びに連れて行ってくれたのですが、自分から話しかけることができず、ずっと受け身の状態でした。学校が始まって1ヶ月程は1人でどこにも行けない状態でした。私は、誰かが「遊びに行こう」と誘ってくれるのをずっと待っていました。晩御飯でホストファミリーがお寿司をテイクアウトしてくれた時、「お箸の使い方を教えてあげよう」と意気込みましたが、ホストは上手に使っていました。簡単に自分の固定概念が覆されました。バスは時間通りに来ない、チップを出すなど、日本で経験したことのないこともたくさん体験しました。日本では、目立たず静かに大多数の意見に流されて生きてきましたが、国が違うとそんな生半可な気持ちでは生きていけませんでした。私はこの留学を通じて、周りの空気を感じ取るという日本人の特性を持ちつつ、視野を広げ、様々な側面から物事を考えるようになりました。
物理学者アインシュタインは次の名言を残しています。「常識とは、18歳までに蓄積した偏見のコレクションである。」生まれてから18年の間でその人の固定概念が完成されると言われている中で、この間に留学という貴重な冒険ができて幸せでした。

My best memory is that I got 100% on a physics test. People may wonder why this is my best memory. I have strong reasons. Physics is my favorite subject. I had already leaned physics in Japan. One of the reasons that I wanted to study abroad was to study physics in English. When I got my class schedule, I didn’t have physics. I told my course counselor, but she told me I couldn’t take physics. I thought, “I can’t realize my purpose if I can’t take physics.” During the first semester I studied physics using a Japanese textbook by myself. Before the second semester, I spoke to the course counselor again, and my wish came true, but it wasn’t the goal. It was the start. I struggled to learn physics because I didn’t know some specialized words in English. I could somehow understand what the teacher said using graphs and drawings. However, it was hard to understand how the objects in word problems.
Most science subjects have unit tests, and these determine our grades. I reviewed my lessons and solved many questions again and again. I used to hesitate to look up words I didn’t know before, but from the point on, I started the habit of looking up anything I don’t know right away. Then, my test scores got higher for each unit, though I couldn’t get 100%. It was frustrating. I blamed my English. The responsibility came back to me. I fell into a downward spiral, but I didn’t stop studying because I love physics. I didn’t give up.
I had one test about a unit I hadn’t studied in Japan. I did it only in my Canadian physics class and in my self-studies. The teacher called out the names and scores of people who did well. When teacher called my name and my perfect score, some people looked at me. A student sitting next to me said, “Nice!” I hadn’t talked to him before other than during experiments, but he praised me. It felt good to be admired by a Canadian.
Of course, I have a lot of memories, however, getting 100% on a test while studying abroad was a special experience.