By Lizzy Warner
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006, The OG, features

NAHO MAEDA

SOME STUDENTS MAY find it scary to go to the other side of the world and live with a strange family. Naho Maeda on the other hand, finds this to be a great opportunity to make new friends and soak up American culture.

Maeda is a 16-year-old exchange student from Konan Girls High School in Kobe, Japan. Maeda has been taking four years of English, and this is her first time visiting the United States.

“Sometimes it's hard speaking English, because someone will be talking and I'll have no idea what to say! But I like the challenge,” Maeda says. “[This can make] homework hard too. It's different things that are hard, though. For example, math is easy but reports take me a long time.”

Throughout the year, Maeda will stay with four host families: those of sophomore Laura Voitik, freshman Sophie Shenk, sophomore Lizzy Warner, and junior Jennifer Roloff (in chronological order).

She enjoyed staying with Voitik and her family, who hosted Maeda for the first quarter, even though it was quite a change from home.

“I have a 12-year-old sister at home,” Maeda says. “Laura and I aren't really like sisters, though. Sisters some times fight, but we don't. We're more like friends!”

In Japan, Maeda enjoys many of the same activities that most American teens do, including just hanging out with her friends and going to the movies. She especially likes going with her friends to photo booths to take silly pictures, and accessorizing her cell phone with jewels and beads.

Naho enjoying Halloween
at Uni (click to enlarge)

For the past six years Maeda has also entertained herself by making balloon animals; she can make giraffes, dogs, mice, and many other creatures. But despite the similarities between Maeda's favorite activities and those of American high school students, her immersion in American culture has still come with a variety of new experiences.

“I went swimming in a lake for the first time,” says Maeda, describing her vacation to Wisconsin with Voitik. “It was cold and dark, and I was scared because I couldn't touch the bottom! Laura had to drag me out there! But it was fun. I even got to go tubing!”

Along with traveling and meeting new people, Maeda has also made many small changes to her daily lifestyle. She is no longer required to wear a uniform to school, and she has new classes and a new array of food options.

“America is different from Japan. Here you can have junk food for dinner! I really like it because you can eat a lot!” Maeda says with enthusiasm. “I've even tried new foods like cheese balls and German chocolate cake … that was yummy!”

The activities that surround Uni are also very different from those at Konan. Maeda is used to watching archery competitions and attending tea ceremonies, neither of which are offered at Uni. Unlike Konan, though, Uni does have (near) monthly dances.

Maeda says she enjoyed the Howdy Hop, her first experience of an American high school dance: “It was hot, but it was fun.”

She's also getting used to attending classes with guys.

“My school is so much [more] different than Uni. It's an all-girls school. All girls can be nice but I was just surprised since Uni has so many boys! That can be nice too.”

Speaking of guys, Maeda had a chance two weeks ago to catch up with some of the Konan boys when 23 members of the school's basketball team visited Uni for three days. She had fun dressing up for Halloween as the boys got a crash course in American culture, and she accompanied them a day later to Amish country in Arthur.

As the school year progresses Maeda hopes to meet new people, go to the winter formal as well as other school dances, travel, and just hang out around C-U.

“My school is very big, maybe three times as large [as Uni],” she says. “Since Uni is so small it makes it easier to get to know people. I really enjoy it here!”