9CE's Mekayla Sinclair tells about their successful trip.

While at Upper Hutt College, each student was allocated a buddy in a Year 9 class, who had to make sure they got to all their classes, helped them in classes and made sure they knew what to do. The Japanese students had two hours of English lessons each day and three hours of classes with their Year 9 buddies.

Being a buddy was a really good experience not only because I had an exchange student but because I got to learn her language at the same time. It was fun to have a buddy because me and my friends got to tell her our stories and make her laugh with our stories.

My buddy was Honoka, and she was an amazing buddy because she would listen to what she needed to do and listen to my friends when there was something to tell her. Honoka was good at knowing what to do although she spoke little English.