BY KEI SHIRAHAMA

I have taken "British and American studies" as an elective in the English Department, and this summer twenty-five students and I took a study trip to the United States. We stayed in Boston, which is on the east coast of America, for three weeks and then traveled to New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, which is on the west coast, for a week with professors Fukuhara and Hamada.

In Boston, we each stayed with a host-family and attended the "English Language Center" language school. The classes were separated according to students' English proficiency. We studied English grammar and conversation skills with foreign students from different cultural backgrounds, and joined extracurricular activities such as sightseeing in Boston.

On weekends and during our trip after the stay in Boston we visited many historic sites as special S.U. student activities, and saw first-hand a lot of places important to American culture and were greatly moved by them. There is not enough space here to report everything, but my most unforgettable places were the Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott once lived, and the Concord Museum in Concord which we visited on weekends.

There I gained clearer understanding and appreciation of Louisa May Alcott, the author of "Little Women." She was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1832 and spent her childhood in Boston and Concord. Her life with her lovely family in Concord was the basis for "Little Women."

I felt deeply when I found her picture at the Concord Museum. Her eyes in the picture were so powerful they seemed to see through the meaning of everything. I was seized with an irresistible urge to read all her works and bought five paperbacks of her works. She changed me because I hadn't been reading many books in my daily life before. Now I have been taking the time to read the books I bought.

Then the McKenzies, my host-family, gave me wonderful memories. I owe the opportunity to have the time to deeply experience many things, such as seeing the picture of Louisa May Alcott at the Concord Museum, and to have a happy time in Boston to my host-family. Though this was my first trip to a foreign country, I could enjoy my life there and I felt free and natural because they loved me like a true family member.

The house was in Milton, which is a little far from the heart of Boston. Many cottages were around the house. Milton is a safe and comfortable place to live in. There were three people in my host-family: the mother, Jackie, and the elder brother, Imar, and his younger sister, Felicia. Their father lives elsewhere for job convenience.

We did a lot of things together. We posted ads on utility poles for the "yard sale" held in front of our house and went to see Felicia's dancing performance. I was happier when I went ordinary places with them than when I went to a movie or shopping, because I felt related to them. Such feelings sank into my heart when we sang gospel music together in church.

Gospel music is a song praising God. In Japan people call it "Negro spirituals." We sang loud together clapping our hands and stamping our feet. While I was in ecstasy over the music I forgot all bad things and worries and was so happy.

In no time the eve before my leaving their family came. Jackie gave me a Bible translated into Japanese with messages from the family members inside its cover. When I saw the Bible, I felt great joy from the bottom of my heart. I was happy that I had had a wonderful chance to visit a church with the McKenzies.

Now my memories of Boston enliven me. I feel grateful to have met my other family in this strange city in America and to regard Boston as my favorite town. Generally, the study trip to foreign countries for just a month can't be regarded as studying abroad in the strict sense of the word. But I spent those days enjoying my life. This study course was one of the most precious things in my life, because I had an invaluable opportunity of getting to know part of American culture and becoming a member of my host-family's family.