I had a great time during the East Coast Trip. I went on the
East Coast Trip from April 8th to 13th with some groups
to learn American history. One of our great advisors, Bethany and wonderful
teachers, Cynthia also went there with us. We went to Boston first by plane,
and Washington D.C. by Amtrak. I had learned about American history before the
trip and I learned more about it during the trip, and I would like to learn it
more even now. It is because I had a wonderful trip mainly for three reasons; I
could enjoy visiting historic places, I learned how important peace is and I
could talk a lot to many people.
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| Chatting Pilgrims |
First, I really enjoyed going to places which were related
to Independence of America in and around Boston. I visited
Plymouth Plantation,
Lexington, Concord, Old North Bridge,
Old North Church and so on. I saw many
actors and actresses who pretended to be pilgrims. It was difficult to
understand what they said because they spoke English which was a little bit
different from current English, but it was fun to talk to them and learn about
their lives. At other places, I enjoyed imagining that there were Minutemen and
Redcoats. Our tour guide told us many interesting stories that I did not learn
in classes. I felt it was a long long long time ago but it was just several
hundred years ago. The buildings, atmosphere, and stories from the guide gave
me a sense of the romance of history.
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| Bronze Statue of Soldies |
Second, I recognized that we are really fortunate to be able
to live peacefully. We went to the National Japanese American Memorial,
Arlington National Cemetery,
Vietnam Veterans Memorial and so on in Washington
DC. There was huge number of gravestones in Arlington. It was unbelievable for
me that all the people who were buried there were killed in wars. I was so
shocked that I could not say anything. I saw many photos and letters at the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Most people who died because of wars were young.
They were the same age as we or younger than us. They should have had a bright
future. My heart aches when I think of them. We should never have wars.
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| With Friends, Bethany and Yu |
Third, I had a good time talking to a lot of people. The
person I talked to the most was Bethany, one of our advisors. Before the trip,
I hardly talked to her because I had few chances to talk to her and I did not think
it was good to talk to advisors without any business or purpose because they
are busy. As you know, she can speak both English and Japanese fluently, so I
asked her many things in English about English. Her answers were nice lessons
for me. She had lived in Japan for a while, so it was very interesting to hear
about her experiences in Japan. I talked to Cynthia a lot too. I did not know
her because I do not have her classes. It was nice meeting her! We ate lunch
together. I will go to her office hour sooner or later! I also talked to Yu,
who worked at Asahi Travel. She had been to many countries so it was very fun
to see her passport and listen to her episodes in foreign countries. She also
talked to me about her life. I thought she was a lady from a good family. I
wanted to talk to her more. In addition, I talked with our tour guides a lot
too! They told us important and interesting things. They answered all the
questions I asked. They told me that my English was good. They made me happy
that I study English and American history. I was extremely happy to have such
awesome people in my group!
To sum up, I could learn a lot with joy during the East
Coast trip. I could learn not only from old and historical places, but also
from current people. I would like to keep talking with many people and learning
about American history even though I will finish studying here at MFWI.
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