My exchange trip to Japan involved a lot of firsts -first time to Japan, first time living alone, first time leaving my partner, first time visiting somewhere where I knew nobody and was travelling by myself, and my first time working overseas. It was confronting. But as soon as I stepped off the plane and saw the smiling faces of my collegues I got really excited, and Japan certainly didn't let me down.

First impression - 'Golly, the food is delicious'... after that, it was the little things that made it special. A chat in the tea room, a quirky little bar, mango parfait, a particularly bad song at Karaoke, it all made for a fantastic experience.

Japan was full of surprises for me. The tiny roads, the traffic lights, the pedestrian crossing sound, the vending machines, the voltage, the herbs, cooking measurements, the amount of insects, the foreigner factor. Everything was outrageous, especially the parfaits with cornflakes as the base. One of my favourite experiences was sitting at the Mini Stop near the city hall eating a mango parfait (unfortunately no cornflakes). The parfait was amazing and my company was great. From this time on I felt like one of the locals. The memory still makes me smile and crave a mango parfait.

The highlight of the trip for me, was meeting the people of Obu. They were, and still are, amazing! They embraced me like I was the daughter of their town, and I am truly grateful for their love, kindness and friendship. I made some real friends during my stay in Japan.

I encourage everybody to try and get involved with the relationship. It's a truly unique and amazing experience.

Yiota Michaela was the fourth Staff Exchange Program participant from the City of Port Phillip to the City of Obu in 2005.