On Monday, March 20, 15 students and three teachers from the Japanese high school Narita Kokusai arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Welcomed at the airport with the host families holding posters, each student found their home for the next week.

The students stayed with a host family during their time in Iowa and followed their host student’s school schedules. They headed back to Japan on Wednesday, March 29.

The host students expressed surprise at the cultural differences in American high Schools.

“In Japan, if you go to class with makeup or dyed hair, the teacher will say ‘Get out!'” exchange student Yuu Sakurada said. “In Japan, the students don’t have computers, and the teacher uses blackboard[s]… people in America wear pajamas to school, but in Japan there is only [the] uniform.”

The Japanese exchange students are grateful for the opportunity to go outside the country and see another culture firsthand and will remember the experience for the rest of their lives.