Most of us have lived in Iowa for a long time. To us, it’s nothing special. All we see are fields of corn. However, how does the perspective change when someone who doesn’t live in Iowa talks about the state? Or even a step further, how would people from whole different country think of Iowa?

Kennedy is doing an exchange program with our sister school in Japan, Narita Kokusai High School. Kennedy students get the opportunity to house Japanese students and help them better understand American culture as well as English. What is their view on Iowa?

Yuri Nakashima, the exchange student I am hosting, was able to share her thoughts with me.

She knew people who had gone to Iowa before, so she had an idea of what to expect. She said she wasn’t nervous because she had many other Japanese students coming with her; there would be familiar faces around her.

Another student, Kanae Tsumurai, said she was very nervous coming. She didn’t know much about Iowa, other than it would be colder than it is in Japan.

It’s spring in Japan as of right now, and it’s still winter here. Kanae showed me the hot pads she carries with her to ensure she won’t freeze in the Iowa weather.

I asked Yuri what she first noticed about Iowa. “Nature” was her response. She said where she’s from, there aren’t a lot of forests or even trees, and there aren’t any rivers either. She said it’s very different from her home, Narashino, Chiba, and she thinks the nature around us is very beautiful. This is perhaps something we don’t think about much in our daily life; for the Narita students it’s different.

Kanae said she first noticed that the buildings were very low. She expanded by saying that in Japan, there are many tall buildings with multiple floors, but many of the buildings she's seen here in Iowa are only one level.

I asked them what they thought about food in Iowa. They both agreed that we have very big portion size. When going out to eat, they can barely finish their food!

Kanae noticed that dinner seems to be the most important meal in America, whereas in their home country, breakfast is most important. Yuri said that it doesn’t mean there is more food, it just means they’re very careful about what they eat for breakfast. I asked them why and Yuri said, “We think that in the morning, you need more energy, but not at the end.” They try to have one type of food from each food group to create the “perfect breakfast.”

In Japan, the students stay in one class. It’s the teachers that rotate rooms when it’s the start of a new class. Kanae said this is one thing she doesn’t like about school here. There are many students walking in the hallways, and everyone always pushes each other; Kanae told me this scared her.

The only exception to this is if the students have what we call electives, such as a language class or gym. Only then would they go to a different class.

There is another significant difference involving passing time. Here, we get four minutes between classes. It seems like a decent amount of time, but the Narita students have ten minutes between each class. They like it at their school better because they have more time to talk to friends and take a break. Meanwhile, we only have time to walk to our next class.

When the Narita students first came to Kennedy, the size was something they weren't used to. They have all said that Kennedy is a very big school. We have about 1,700 students, but Narita has about 600 total. This creates a more overwhelming experience for the Japanese students in the hallways, as they aren’t used to so many students in school.

Girls might find this next contrast rather shocking or unfair, but to the Narita students, it's simply their school lifestyle. Makeup is banned in their high school. Some other schools may allow a minimal amount, but they can't have any in their school at all. I asked Yuri why, and she says she doesn’t really know, but it's not strange for a school in Japan. "I think, maybe, they think it doesn't match our uniform?"

Their school has the sailor style of uniform. In winter, their entire outfit is green. Yuri told me she likes their summer uniform better; the top is white and their bottoms are green. She told me she doesn't like their uniforms because she thinks they're uncomfortable, and the skirt, which extends underneath the knees, are too long.

The boys wear white dress shirts and dress pants as well as red ties.

One last difference is our use of technology. Our school has smart boards in almost every classroom. We might not realize how our precious our smart boards or laptops really are, because we’ve had them for so long, and it's become part of our daily lives.

The Narita students only use blackboards in their classrooms, something we might consider "outdated." Like us, they have computer labs, and that's the only place they can go to access computers in their school. They don't have laptops as we do, so it's a bit more difficult to use the internet, unlike us, who use laptops or computers in our classes almost every day.

As you can see, the Narita students have quite a different life from us. When we see our school, or even Iowa, we don't see anything spectacular. The Narita students on the other hand, see a whole new lifestyle that's very different from their own; they have a diverse view of Iowa and our daily lives.