By Mrs Di Fitzpatrick, Japanese teacher

On the 1^st of March, 15 students and one English teacher came to Radford from our sister school: Kure National College of Technology, in Kure, Hiroshima. Their trip didn’t get off to the best start, with flight delays at Haneda airport.

The result of this was that they only spent just over half a day in Sydney to see the sights before departing for Canberra. For most it was their first overseas trip and first visit to Australia. When they arrived at Radford, they were all pretty tired from all of their travels.

During the week the students experienced life as a Radford student and went on excursion to the National Reptile Park and Aviary at Gold Creek and to Questacon. They also had numerous experiences with their Home Stay families, which included experiencing Enlighten, and visiting the National Zoo and Aquarium and Mount Ainslie. Of course, the number one activity for exchange students . . . shopping! It was a jam-packed week, but an experience of a lifetime.

Radford students will be undertaking a tour to Japan in September this year and the five Year 10 students who hosted, will have the opportunity to stay with the Japanese student they hosted. I am sure this will establish lifelong friendships.

For three quarters of the students, this was their first time overseas and the first time to Australia, so their visit made quite an impact. The Japanese teacher was very surprised when he attended my classes to see how many of our students have had the opportunity to travel overseas.

Thank you to all the wonderful Radford families who hosted and gave of their time to ensure the Japanese students had an amazing experience of Radford, Canberra and us Aussies.