What makes Shawnigan’s international exchanges so special?

I applied to Shawnigan for my Grade 9 year, one of the first things that drew me to the School was the opportunity to go on exchanges all over the world. From spring break trips to Europe, to six-week-long exchanges to Brisbane, Melbourne, and South Africa, to our reinvigorated two-week exchange trip to Azabu, Japan, Shawnigan creates exchange experiences unlike any other. I was fortunate to join the Shawnigan-Azabu exchange trip over the recent mid-term break where we stayed with host families and went to Azabu High School for the first half of our 12-day visit, then stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel with daily outings all over Tokyo for the second half. We were fully immersed in the Japanese culture the whole trip.

 

Shawnigan itself is an international boarding school with over 30 different countries represented and over 25 percent of our students being international students. I am an international(ish) student from the United States, and I love the multicultural aspect of Shawnigan. After spending four years here with roommates from Canada, Japan, and Finland, my favourite part of Shawnigan is the connections I’ve made all over the world; if I ever wanted to go backpacking across the world, I would always have someone to stay with no matter wherever I go! So, when the opportunity arose last fall to host some Japanese exchange students from Azabu High School at Shawnigan, I quickly said yes. And in turn, when we had the chance to go visit our host brothers (Azabu is an all-boys private school) in Japan a few weeks ago, it was an easy yes from me. Japan has always been on my bucket list, and it seemed there was no better opportunity than the trip with Shawnigan, where we would get to have a truly local experience of Tokyo. While the international students at Shawnigan are great at sharing their experiences and cultures with all of the other students, there is something different about experiencing a new city, country, and culture firsthand.

 

While we were in Tokyo, we were transiting daily with our host brothers to and from Azabu High School, some of us with hour-long commutes over many different trains. The trust and respect that our Shawnigan group had for each other made this trip possible – without a foundation of trust, we wouldn’t have been able to travel all over the wards of Tokyo independently with our exchange partners and would have lost out on many of the amazing experiences we had. In turn, it is because of our host brothers and families that we had the incredible trip; they welcomed us into their homes, booked us experiences such as Shibuya Sky, teamLabs Borderless, and renting kimonos while in Asakusa Shopping District, and took us to their favourite places to eat (one of our Shawnigan team even got to try raw horse meat and marinated octopus!). Shawnigan exchange trips are built on the belief that with respect, trust, and a caring team of Shawnigan staff, students can expand their worldviews and become better students and international citizens.

 

My favourite part of the trip was our day outing to Kamakura, a city about an hour away from Tokyo, where we visited multiple temples and shrines. I spent my day trying out local coffee shops, ordering food in the five words I knew (maybe seven if we are being generous) with my barely passing Japanese, and praying in the Hase-Kannon temple. The beautiful thing about an exchange is that when you are removed from an environment that you are used to, it challenges you to grow as a person – to learn how to navigate an unfamiliar setting, connect with the people and culture around you, and reflect on your place in the intertwining, international systems of the world that has tied us all together through Shawnigan.

 

I am proud that I was a part of the 10 students and two staff who made up the team of Shawnigan people who went to Azabu. I am proud that we spent our break challenging ourselves to be better global citizens and learning about the beautiful Japanese culture and truly immersing ourselves in it--- there is no other experience like being a part of a life-changing, multicultural exchange hosted by Shawnigan.