After waking up at 4:30 in the morning, we headed out to Osaka International Airport by bus to catch a flight to Tokyo, and from there back to Melbourne, with many of us still suffering from post-goodbye depression. A number of the boys were on their phones constantly, likely messaging the friends they made and sorting and exchanging photos.
It was truly an unforgettable experience that let us meet new and extremely kind and likeable people, a chance for us to improve our Japanese while having fun doing so. Most of us wanted to stay more at Daisho, even for just a bit, and everyone agreed that the homestay was, by a large margin, the best experience of the entire tour. Sightseeing was a amazing, but interaction with people and the life of a Japanese student through the homestay program is a special thing you cannot get anywhere else. For students studying Japanese in the future, please consider going.
Some of the bonds that were made are likely going to stick with us, and personally I promised a lot of people that I'd meet them again. I'm eager to go back to Japan to meet them, and looking forward to my friends coming to Melbourne in the future. めちゃ楽しかった、また会いたいです！
By Clyde Alferez
