Seattle Trip

By Saki Mu

Have you ever been to Seattle before? Well, I have! I was on the Seattle Trip from March 11th to March 13th. We took about a five hour bus ride to get to Seattle. As we were heading to Seattle, we stopped by the Columbia River and saw magnificent beautiful scenery. During the Seattle Trip, I noticed many differences between Japan and America such as shopping and in the museum. I think being in a different culture is really interesting because sometimes we can experience different things that we can’t experience in the home country. Therefore, the Seattle Trip was really worth going on.

Going to the museum and exploring some arts and crafts was really fun. I went to the place called Washington State History Museum, the place which shows Washington State history. I was very surprised that they had a kids section, where kids can go and learn about Washington State’s history. The children’s section had a lot of games and videos that they can study with lots of fun. I think this idea is really good because if they learn the same thing with adults, they will definitely get bored. Some museums in Japan do have kids sections but there are not many as America has.

I found out the most interesting difference between Japan and America while I was shopping. The store I stepped into was called “American Eagle”. The first clerk I saw came toward me and greeted me, “Hey! Are you doing okay today?” and started explaining their discounts. After that, I was looking around the store, and I saw another clerk and the clerk asked me if I was shopping for spring clothes. Here is the most interesting thing I have experienced. He asked my name and he said “Well, nice to meet you, Saki!” I was really surprised that he asked my name! In Japan, the store clerk will never ask such a question if the clerk and the customer are not really close. I thought how Americans make relationships with customers were really interesting.

I think the Seattle Trip is really worth going on because people can learn many things as they go on to the trip. Shopping and going to a museum in another country is very different from what I’ve experienced in Japan. I wish I could go back and go on the trip again so that I could learn more deeply about the history of Washington State and other things more deeply than I did while I was on the trip. I had so much fun on the Seattle Trip.