Kiera Byrd (10th)
This year, Lakeview welcomes junior Azami Morikawa, an exchange student from Tokyo, Japan. Azami found that becoming an exchange student was the best way to interact with people outside Japan.
“I wanted to expand my perspective to the world,” Azami said.
Moving here was concerning for Azami as it was her first time in the U.S., but as time went on, she began to see the more positive aspects of things.
One major difference she’s noticed is that people are more expressive of their opinions.
“Japanese people tend to express themselves indirectly. It makes me upset if somebody says [something]really directly to me.”
While in the U.S., Azami says she would like to try out for tennis as she believes joining sport teams is a good way to make friends Azami is passionate about physics and is drawn to AP classes. Her favorite experience so far is when her host family took her to Detroit.
“I saw so many beautiful buildings and beautiful lakes.”
Thanks to this experience, Azami has started to gain more confidence and hopes to show people in Japan not to hesitate to express their personalities. She advises future exchange students: “Don’t hesitate to communicate with people.”