On Monday, 11/16, Peter writes

Monday was my first day of school. I woke up early, and put on my school uniform. The entire process was very strange and unique for me, because I usually just wear whatever I want to school. After getting ready and eating breakfast, my homestay and me began our trip to school. First, my mom (“mom”) drove us to the train station, and then we took the train for 10 minutes. Next, we had to walk another 15 minutes to school. The entire trip took really long and was kinda tiring, but it was interesting. During first period, all the American kids were taken to view a Powerpoint presentation on the Edo period of Japan. After that, we went to class with our hosts. Although I couldn’t understand everything, it was interesting to see the way the Japanese classroom works. Rather than walking from class to class, the teachers come to your class instead. In addition, the classroom had no decorations; it was strictly for learning. My favorite class was biology, because I could actually understand some of the things that the kids were learning (the teacher drew pictures of the human brain and its parts on the board). On the other hand, my least favorite class was Japanese, because I knew absolutely nothing, especially all the difficult Japanese characters on the board. Once classes were over, my host had to go to cram school, so I decided to go to the school’s track team. While I was there, I ran A LOT. The main reason why it was difficult was because all that we did was sprint to one side, and then jog back. This may not seem difficult, but imagine doing that 15 times (3 sets of 5). Although it was painful, I enjoyed running with the Japanese students. Once track was over, my host and me began our trip back home. I was very exhausted, so the train ride was 10x better than it was on the way to school. Once home, I took a shower, ate dinner (which was delicious btw), played video games with my host family, and then went to bed. Monday was very eventful and exhausting, but I had a great time. J