I heard those words countless times on the bus to Princeton University to participate in the High School Diplomats International Friendship Program (HSD) and each time I felt the same skepticism about them.  I was wary of such a daring claim and thought that it couldn’t possibly be true. 

I learned about the High School Diplomats program about a year ago from a flyer that was sent home with our report cards.  It looked interesting – a chance to spend ten days at Princeton University with fifty-nine other American students and sixty Japanese students and learn more about each other’s culture.   We would each be assigned a roommate from the opposite country to spend nearly the entire ten days with, hopefully developing a lasting friendship.  Oh, and all for free.  But even so, I wasn’t incredibly enthusiastic about applying – two whole essays to write!  An interview! The horror! 

Luckily, I was accepted.  I went through the rest of the school year without thinking too much about HSD.  I was tired from all of my classes and was hoping that I could spend the summer lying around, hanging out, and generally doing nothing.  I was happy at least that HSD promised to be “non-academic,” which I took to mean relaxing and non-demanding.  But I was wrong.

In mid-July, the sixty Japanese students arrived in the United States and toured New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. before arriving in Northern Virginia for the “home stay” portion of the program.  That meant that my roommate would be staying with me for a few days before we went to Princeton.  The Japanese students were to arrive at a picnic to meet their roommates and home stay families.  The Americans arrived first; it was just like any other awkward picnic with people you don’t know.  And then, three long buses pulled up and sixty exuberant Japanese teenagers (and a few exhausted-looking adults) poured out, eagerly searching for their American counterparts.  I was a bit bewildered at their enthusiasm – this was just a park, and we were just, well, fairly normal Americans!  They were thrilled to meet us and so, without even thinking about it, we began to be thrilled to be there. 

My roommate’s name was Miu (Mew) Nitta, from Tokyo.  I was immediately surprised at how much she reminded me of myself, albeit a bit thinner and more polite.  Her English was just as good as that of many Americans.  It did not take long for us to discover that we had a lot in common.  Over the next few days, we toured D.C., went to the mall, watched “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” threw a party, played ping-pong, and began to discover a bit about what each other’s lives were like.

And then, we were off to Princeton.  Once there, we settled into our dorm room and set about meeting the other 118 High School Diplomats.  There was never much time to just hang out and meet them, though.  I had been wrong about what “non-academic” meant.  There wasn’t much schoolwork, except for a 2 hour class about basic Japanese language and culture for the Americans and a similar class about American language and culture for the Japanese.  But there was always something going on.  It wasn’t what you would expect to be going on at Princeton University, though.  We spent most of our days wearing “cultural” costumes (i.e. rock star getups, cowboy boots, Hawaiian leis, and the odd kimono or two).  Surely the tennis and squash camps that were sharing the campus with us thought that we were a bit insane.  We walked everywhere with our roommates and attempted to make somewhat meaningful conversation.  Mew and I found this to be much easier than many of the other roommate pairs; for some reason, we never ran out of questions and had enormous fun teaching each other random words in our respective languages, flipping through our English-Japanese (or vice versa) dictionaries.  I still remember almost all of them. 

Throughout the program, the staff (who were all still in college) would organize ridiculously fun events for us, with the sole purpose of getting us to bond with our roommates, which was not exactly a difficult task.  We had a luau, a karaoke night, a line dancing lesson, a Japanese festival, several dance parties, field day, and “date night.” My Japanese date was extremely shy but had a motorcycle back home, so that was exciting!  When we had a free moment, we would all run to the beach volleyball court and try to fit in as many of us as we could.  I matched my tennis skills against some of the best high school players in Japan – and I lost, of course.  It was truly remarkable – for ten days, all of our energy was put towards having fun, but with a purpose, the purpose of bridging a substantial cultural and linguistic divide.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy for everyone to “click” with their roommates as it was for us.  But everyone who made an effort to understand and share with their roommate had an excellent time.  After ten days, when the Japanese students got back on the buses to go to the airport, all 120 of us, Japanese and Americans, boys and girls alike, were crying.  It was an amazing sight; all of us standing at the gates of Princeton, oblivious to our surroundings, feeling as though we were about to lose a part of ourselves, wondering what it would be like to walk to lunch alone and resume our rapid slang, not needing to slow down and translate words like “sweet” and “chick.” 

Mew and I still keep in close contact through e-mail and air mail, and I still frequently talk to many of the other “HSDers” from both America and Japan.  I am currently applying to the USHSD program, which allows American students who have completed HSD at Princeton to participate in a similar program – but in Japan!  If I am selected, I will be staying with Mew in Tokyo for a few days.  She has promised to show me some of her favorite spots, but I’m not sure if they’ll be able to beat Panera and Hollywood Video.  We’ll just have to see!

The program dates for HSD 2007 are Monday, July 30 – Thursday, August 9. All lodging, food, and activity costs are covered by scholarships.  The application deadline will be in early January and interviews will be held in early to mid-March.  Selection decisions will be made by mid-April. Current sophomores and juniors interested in applying should visit www.highschooldiplomats.com or e-mail Mrs. Kristen Parrott, American Director, at kparrott@highschooldiplomats.com. Madame Johnsen can also provide additional information.