Seiritsu International Education

Hey, my name is David Alexander. I��m 17, from Montreal, Quebec. I��m staying in Japan for 10 months and I��m attending a special program in Seiritsu Gakuen for foreigners. This is my first day in a Japanese school��and I have to say it��s pretty strange for me. I��m so used to Canada where everything and everyplace is multicultural, but here, I��m a bit more of an outsider. The Japanese students here at Seiritsu are extremely friendly. My first impression of the school is that it��s huge and complicated, more so than my school back in Quebec. Overall though, I��m very excited about my exploits and adventures in Japan. The reasons I came to Japan are for it��s culture, the history, and the change of scenery.

The culture in Japan is much more civil and requires more studying and patience than most other cultures. For example, the language in Japan makes the people seem much nicer and much more willing to offer help and welcoming, whereas in Montreal, we have a language barrier between French and English and people are generally busy, rushed and unfriendly. Of course, there is a thicker language barrier for me here in Japan, but ����� people have been kind and generous and have showed me how to get from A to B to the best of their capability. It really does show the compassion and friendliness Japanese people have.

The history of Japan is quite unknown to me. I only know about what has happened in Japan in the past century or so but besides that and Russo-Japanese conflicts: I haven��t quite gotten the big picture yet. I would really like to learn about its origins, cultural changes and connections with other places, like Brazil, China, and other nearby countries. I��d also like to learn a bit more in depth about the Edo period, the hierarchy of society, the economy, the exchange system, the royal and peasant life and everything else there is to know.

Japan is extremely different than where I come from. Everyday there��s a new surprise just around the bend. So far, I��ve seen Japanese housing, stores, transport, and some of the people. In Canada, the housing is very much the same everywhere; a rather large house or an apartment in a series of apartment buildings, but in Japan it is spread out and different everywhere you go. The stores in Japan are pretty much the same, but the major convenient stores and chains haven��t made their way��yet to Japan and so the contents are different as well. As for transport, I��m very used to taking the bus everywhere I go. And in Montreal we get long winters, using bikes to go far distances is completely unheard of to me.

At the end of my 10 months stay, I hope to be able to speak Japanese and be able to bring back ���� I have learned in Japan back to Canada and have that extra point of knowledge over my classmates.

-David Alexander