My special Person- Our Story

My name is Danka Major from Hungary. I could travel to Japan with the help of student exchange program hosted by Lions Club. I spent a month there. After I handed in my application the usual preparations began which went very well because I travelled a lot but this time it was somehow different. After a lot of organizations and packing, on 8th July I said goodbye to my mother to whom I can thank a lot. Being incredibly exicted I boarded the plane. My first flight...I was really looking forward to it. When I was a child I used to think about clouds. Do they look like the same if we are above them? The engines started and I heard as the pilot said: Dear pessangers please fasten your seatbelts we are ready to take off. After a quick transfer in Doha I arrived in Osaka After a 17-hour filght. In the evening i got the know japanese cuisine. I tried sushi, green tea, sea foods and the okonomijaky which became my favourite.I also tried beef tounge and sake. I really enjoyed the healthy lifestyle that they lead.The japanese people and there mentality gave me many positive feeling. Their enviromental awarness, their purity, and their humbleness are remarkable. The country had a great influance on me from the first moment. My host parents were fanastic people. I spent with them 2 wonderful weeks and we got close each other. They mean a lot for me and now i will tell what we did together. I took a peek in to their culture when we visited to Horyoji temple and they explain me the dragon symbol. According to their belief to dragons live in the water and it rains, they flight in the sky so the dragons mean water in their culture. We went for a long walk under red archway in the mountains. I visited Nara with them where roes live along with people. It was amazing to see the children playing in the park next to some pasturing deers while their parents were chatting. I had a chance to go to the biggest buddhist churche where i made a wish while i was lighting an incense stick as custom, moreover, I attended a traditional ceremony which was hosted by an original monk. We took a tour to a monastery where I could understand that why people say that japanese gardens are the most beautiful all over the world. We travelled to Kyoto too. I saw the Golden Pavilon which is an architectual wonder, I wandered in a bambus forest, I could see a real lotus and I attended a theatre and saw a play their too. I can consider myself very lucky because I could take part in 2 of the 3 biggest fetivals in Japan. As the Gion festival people played music in fancy chariot which were follow by martial art show. I was at Kobe as well where my friends took me to go sightseeing in the Chine town and set on a big wheel which they call guru-guru and visited the Castle at Osaka. The evening i wore a kimono which was surprisingly comfortable. Next day the camp began, I could meet youngsters from 29 different countries. It was a great experience to spend 2 weeks with them. We took part in the Tenjin festival together. It is a festival where boats were sailing in a procession. We travelled to Hirosima where we visited the museum and the exhibition touched everybody deeply. We travelled on a yacht when we were at Shirahama and we really enjoyed ourself on the beach and laughed a lot. The following day we went hiking, in the forest we participated in a ceremony where we had to stand under a waterfall. I had a feeling with this ceremony they accepted me as one of them. On the last day a few of us got together and visited an anime studio to see how the animes are created. In the next moment i found myself back on the plane. The timezones played their fool with me because when i looked out on the window it was sunny and a moment later everything got dark. It was like a dream to me...