Dear Mr. Shiotani,

I am very excited to be in Okayama, Japan! Everyone has been very welcoming here and I am really enjoying spending time with my host family and my new friends. Although the temperature was not exactly pleasant when I first arrived, it has cooled down considerably and I find myself getting accostumed to the humidty.

Everything here is beautiful and rich in authentic Japanese culture; my favorite attraction so far is Okayama Castle, which my host parents were thoughtful and wonderful enough to take me to visit. School is also very fun and inviting. I recently participated in my class’ production of West Side Story for the school festival. Since everyone in class 2-5 is required to speak at least some English, I was able to help out with the play that is in my native language. However, this does make it more difficult to familiarize myself with Japanese.

It’s been a fantastic opportunity to further my language skills and I have been working very diligently on my Japanese homework. Hopefully, I will be able to have short conversations in Japanese with both my host family and my school friends.

The Rotary meeting was also great and I am so thankful to have a program that cares so much for my well-being. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the other foreign exchange students and look forward to the next monthly meeting with you.

Thank you so much for the pre-paid cell phone and for giving me my monthly allowance (again, I apologize profusely for the confusion of having misplaced it). I cannot wait to experience more of Japan and I am so very grateful for this opportunity. I will update you as much as possible. Arigato goziamus.

Thank you.

-Julianna Peres