School: Bard High School Early College

Grade: Rising 10^th Grader

Fun Fact: My bones crack loud and I’m allergic to everything.

Why did you have an interest in this program? The reason I did was because I’ve always had an interest in Japan and anime. When I was young the first anime my mom got me into was Dragon Ball and from that I realized that I’d love anime. I started to watch anime. I’m more of an action type watcher but I felt like nobody else watched anime, like I did, because my whole drawer was full of anime shirts. There was not one plain shirt and it felt like people judged me. They made me feel like a kid that I had nothing in my brain. It was hard making friends my age because they were hood and only cared about girls and stuff, while I didn’t. Also I love to read. My favorite books were Refugee, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The One and Only Ivan, so when I heard you can read anime before it comes out, I was excited. I got every single manga of anime I like because who tryna wait for every season.

I love to travel and with Pokémon Go, and with new Pokémon coming out, and because also I love food, I knew I had to go to Japan one way or another, even if it takes years. I am going, even though I’m allergic to everything like seafood. Also I want to interact with the language and the people, and I always wanted to see sumos fight. I don’t know why, but it’s like the two gorillas pushing each other out the ring. Also not to mention, I can’t lie, the reason I want to learn Japanese is so I can curse people out and they won’t even know.

Now when I first came to Japan in DC, I dressed formal so I won’t get judged, but I didn’t have any more outfits so I put on my anime shirt and others were fine with it. I even had people asking me where I got most of my stuff. Everybody I met there was nice, and I felt like I didn’t get judged every second and I felt like I belonged there instead of feeling like a weirdo, so if you feel like joining this you should. It’s worth your while.