We say goodbye soon to our Japanese International Students who have been studying for 4 months in Orlando. They have lived in homestay with IHPS Homestay host families who became their home-away-from-home families here in the US. These students learned first-hand what American culture was like and exposed to our local customs and traditions, not to mention our families learned a lot about their culture.

These students have made many cherished memories along with lifelong friendships, and with Facebook, they will be able to keep in touch with their American host families when they are back home in Japan. We asked one of our students what she liked best about living in a homestay and she said, “the family she was placed with. I will miss them.”

What were some of the activities of this group during their time in Orlando? In addition to taking full-time English classes at two different Orlando Colleges, many of the students loved Disney so Walt Disney World Orlando was big on their list to visit, and some of the students made it to the Magic Kingdon several times during their stay.

The girls also did a lot of shopping and were lucky enough to get to visit Orlando Premium Outlets.  Our IHPS local housing coordinator put together a calendar of free events too, so our Japanese visitors visited local fairs, events in the park, and concerts.

At the end of their stay, their universities had a graduation ceremony for the students and a reception sendoff. Our host families were invited and there were tons of hugs and tears from our girls, but they know they have a place to visit if they ever get a chance to come back to the USA!

We will miss this group and look forward to another group from Japan next year!