My host family was very welcoming, and I found that they were very similar to my family at home in the way they conducted their daily lives. Most of our host families took us places: Mine took me to Osaka Castle, where I learned about the history of the castle, got to climb to the top, and got dressed in an authentic Japanese kimono.

The weekend was a challenge when it came to the food. I wanted to try everything that was put in front of me at least once, even if it didn’t look like something that I would want to eat. On Saturday, they gave me a stick with a round ball that looked sort of like a doughnut, but when I put it in my mouth I knew that it was far from what I thought. After I’d swallowed, I decided to ask what I had just eaten – and to my surprise I had just consumed octopus. I was mortified yet proud that I was able to eat it, because if I had known what it was I would have been very hesitant. It was an incredible weekend, to say the least. My family went out of its way to practice English and make my stay a wonderful experience.

This morning we woke up early and headed to Kobe to the Asics Biomechanics Facility. We were able to tour the large facility, and we really got an inside look at how they make a pair of shoes. It’s way more in-depth and complex than I ever thought. Tonight we all enjoyed our first experience attending a Japanese baseball game. Although the home team, the Hanshin Tigers, lost 10-0, there were so many aspects of Japanese professional baseball that are different than an American professional baseball game. The crowd is intense, continually cheering the entire length of the game and never giving up. And when I say cheering, I mean cheering: It’s more than just the wave that you see in an American ballpark.