Tell us a little about your life before you came to Dickinson State University (DSU).

I grew up in the small town of Shimizu, which is in the middle of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands. I grew up on a dairy farm run by my family and lived with my parents, grandparents and my three older sisters, so I loved having animals around me. I “helped” my parents since I was a little child. I started dreaming about visiting the United States since I was in elementary school and came to the U.S. for the first time when I was in the eighth grade. I came with my sister city exchange program for a short-term homestay program. Since then, I really started getting interested in learning English and interacting with people from different places. I went to high school about three hours away from my family, and they have an English department so I could learn it more. During my junior year, I came to Dickinson for a one-year exchange program and went to New England Public School about 30 miles south of Dickinson.