Band 8+: The younger sister of one of your friends is thinking about spending a year studying abroad as part of her university course. You did this recently, and she has asked you about your experience. Write a letter to your friend's sister. In your letter • tell her where you studied during your year abroad • describe what you learnt about the country you studied in • explain why your year abroad was helpful for your studies

Dear Tulip,

I am so thrilled to hear that you are going for an exchange year abroad as part of your course! I recently did mine at the University of Tokyo in Japan for my bachelors degree and I had such an amazing time.

Did you know that Japan really values cleanliness and punctuality? Wherever I go, I could not spot a single trash on the streets and despite Tokyo being the busiest city in Japan, everything was perfectly on time. Having a good sense of community is also a very big thing there, hence why everyone was so kind and helpful.

Since I am doing my bachelors in Software Engineering and Japan has always been one of the strongest technology pioneer, I was able to see how the technology industry operates there and how fast they were able to innovate. The knowledge I gained throughout that year certainly shapes a new perspective on building softwares and also gain insights on what will be the next trend in the industry.

My exchange year was definitely the best year during my course and I hope you are inspired to complete one yourself.

Best regards,

Evelyn