I moved to America for the first time in the winter of my freshman year when my father was transferred for work (as a 10th grader in local school). Everything was a new environment, and while I was still struggling with language and cultural barriers, I soon reached a period where I had to start thinking about my future after high school graduation. Even though I wanted to try challenging American universities, I was confused by the completely different admissions system from Japan, but Peter taught me one by one carefully. The work of writing essays to submit to universities was very difficult, but through communicating my experiences and feelings to Peter in the best English I could manage, and writing through that process, I was able to look back on myself and gain confidence in what I had accomplished. Of course I’m happy that I was accepted to university, but I’m filled with gratitude to Peter who gave me the opportunity to understand myself better through this process.
