Senior Nhulunbuy Stars, Tyla and Siena, had a life-changing experience over the school holidays when they joined a group of students and teachers on the ‘Around the Bend’ tour to Japan
The girls visited Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. We are super proud of them for being so open to new experiences and having the courage to leave the comforts of home and family to travel all the way to Japan.
Both young women found the experience rich and rewarding. Here’s what they had to say:
Tyla
“The food was pretty good, it was all cheap and top-notch quality – curry udon was my favourite food! The Japanese people were kind and respectful; you could ask them to take a picture for you and they went out of their way to be polite and helpful and take that picture.
“The aquarium was my favourite place, I felt emotionally invested in that place. I really liked the berle sharks, seeing them feeding and how they moved. The baby seals made my heart melt! I felt connected to the animals.
“Overall Japan was just deadly, all I could think was ‘this is great!’ I just didn’t want to leave. “
Siena
“My favourite food is noodles and gyoza, and I went to the home of noodles and gyoza! Bucket list item ticked off!
To me, Japan was the streets – with your friends, laughing and having a good time, walking down a street at twilight with people whizzing past on bikes and cars going every which way. There were lights everywhere, billboards lighting up all over and just people enjoying life. People-watching was one of the things I liked.
“It felt dream-like and surreal. Being in another country without my family on a school-trip – I thought it was going to be hard but I was with a good group of peers who I got to know better on the trip and the experiences just kept rolling one after the other. There were so many moments that I just had to stop and appreciate that I was in JAPAN!
I’d like other young Stars girls to know that home is always going to be here. So, take chances to go and experience another culture. I love sharing my culture, and do it often, so it’s nice to experience another as opposed to sharing my own.”