With the stamp of my passport reading, “Landing Permission, June 13, 2013,” I realized I had finally arrived. After

an endless amount of time rocketing halfway around the world, I had officially entered the Land of the Rising Sun — Japan. I was now among the flashing lights of the most populated city in the world, ready to assume my role as a foreign exchange student.

The beginning of the road to my six-week exchange in Tokyo started with a simple

recommendation from an adviser of the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. I learned that because I was an active FCCLA member, I qualified for

an all-expense-paid scholarship provided by the Kikkoman Corporation to study abroad

for an entire summer.As an active student at Rolla High

School, I couldn’t help but send it straight to the top of my list of things

I wanted to accomplish. Since I was a kid, I dreamed about

taking trips to unknown

lands where the people, language, food and culture were new and exciting. I felt that if I could finally see and experience a small portion of the great expanse of this unknown world, it would make it slightly smaller and more understandable.

My parents, on the other hand, were not without trepidation. Except the obvious of me being so far away in such a massive city, they felt my time was already spread too thin amongst my extracurricular activities. Adding an extensive application, essays and planning for the trip to my current involvement in the Student Council, speech, church, Boy Scouts and my work at the KEYA Radio Station and the Turtle Mountain Star seemed a bit ambitious. To their surprise, the application process seemed to enhance my planning and time management skills, and it continues to assist me in my senior year as I take on more responsibility at work, school and in extracurriculars.

Before I knew it, it was time to head out on the springboard adventure that would produce precious memories, and solidify even more lifelong lessons that I use now, and will use in the future.

The first of countless lessons I learned while living in Japan was how to play Pictionary … the real-life version, used to communicate. Upon meeting my amazing host parents, the Itos, I knew we were going to have a communication problem. My Japanese was

“Obvious” differences diminishon student exchange trip

PHO

TO BY LIZA KESSEL

Ethan Mickelson

S T O R Y A N D P H O T O S B Y E T H A N M I C K E L S O N

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still in its infancy, and they struggled with English. Using my hands and making absurd gestures became the norm, and drawing pictures was necessary almost every day. Nevertheless, we managed to form a bond. My host mom, who spoke very little English, played board games with me, brought me to the fish market, and taught me how to travel using the city trains with little more than a few words and a smile. My host father, who had spent some time in the United States, knew a little more English. We often conversed during supper about politics, cooking, art, and his favorite — our family farm. It was mind-boggling to him how truly massive the United States was, and he was fascinated by the machinery and technology required to run a farm. While we talked slowly to each other and often needed to use a translation dictionary, these talks gave me a sense of true camaraderie.

All the while my relationships were developing, so were my language skills and cultural understanding. As an exchange student, I found I could no longer only rely on school for learning. Instead, I found that learning became my everyday life. I soaked up as much information as I could every second of the day. My survival instincts kicked in, and my eyes and ears opened wider than ever. From trying to get home on the train, to watching sumo wrestling while eating breakfast with my host family, I watched and listened more than any other time in my life.

Learning at school took on a different form as well. The relationship I had with my teachers and newfound peers was give-and-take. My teachers would slow down when speaking, and if I was lucky, even speak in English. My school put me in many English classes as well, where I helped with pronunciation and taught everyone fun phrases like, “The lights are on, but nobody’s home.” At the same time, my friends and language teachers schooled me on how to write in Japanese and say words as long as my arm.

It was the small things that made me feel at home, like wearing the same school uniform of blue pants and a white-collared shirt as my friends; cramming together on a train to head to the center of the city for school; sharing octopus, eel and a plethora of other raw fish with my host sister; getting lost in the middle of the city and discovering new shops with the other exchange students; and cooking American meals like pancakes, bacon and eggs. Only the obvious difference of race separated me from my new family and country, and even that began to seem as trivial as the color of my shoes or the material of the shirt.

To my surprise, the world seemed even bigger when I returned home. The expectations I had conjured through pictures, books and television could have never prepared me for how big Japan — and now the world — really seemed. My eyes had only seen a small corner of the world, but realizing how large that seemingly small island was made me crave more. I had caught the travel bug, and I am still down with the fever, forever planning more trips to foreign places. I am a North Dakotan, making the world my home. n

Ethan Mickelson, 17, is a senior at Rolla High School. Involved in Student Council, speech, FCCLA, church and Boy Scouts, Ethan’s passion lies in journalism. He currently works for the Turtle Mountain Star and KEYA Radio Station. Ethan is the son of Cameron and Dainelle Mickelson, who are members of Northern Plains Electric Cooperative.

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