Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Lauren Owens, is spending a year in Japan. Recently we received three letters from her describing events from October, November, and December of her exchange year. 
 
October - "In October I had my 17th birthday. It was so much fun, and my family had a little barbecue in celebration. I went to Nagasaki and got to see a festival with the exchange students from my district and Fukuoka. We also went to Huis Ten Bosch, an Amsterdam-themed park. Later I went to Meruhen-mura, which is a little theme park for kids, with my sister and her boyfriend. Even though it was very quiet and for little kids, it was still a lot of fun. I didn't do much for Halloween other than eat KFC with my family. I still am at school a lot, but I am used to it now, and I am good at getting things done. Every day I read a chapter of my grammar book, do a couple worksheets, practice kanji, work on a few online classes for my school in America, and work on things for college. Volleyball practice can be very tiring, but it's a good way for me to stay in shape, and I really like my teammates."
 
 
 
November -"I went to Karatsu with the students from my district. We stayed there for two nights. The first night we saw a bit of the Karatsu night festival. The second day the kids from the Fukuoka district. We went to a bunch of people's houses to eat, including the mayor's. Later in November, I went to Osaka and Kyoto with my host sister. It was a lot of fun, especially because I got to go to Universal Studios Japan. My favorite part was when I went to Harry Potter World because I really like Harry Potter, and it has been a dream of mine to go."
 
December - "I went to Kagoshima with my district, the Fukuoka district, and the Kagoshima district to visit the museum on the Kamikaze bombers and to experience a sand bath. At my school, the first and second years had a sports day, which was a lot of fun. My class won for basketball. The volleyball club got second in two tournaments. Some of my friends and I had a little Christmas party on Christmas Eve, and I celebrated Christmas with my family and some of the staff from my family's company. I went to Fukuoka with my cousin and was able to go to Space World, which was nice because Space World closed for good on the 31st."