Hippo internship changed my life!

My little brothers and I

Minnasan konnichiwa！Hola todos! Yeoleobun annyeonghaseyo!

My name is Madison Hartup, but please feel free to call me Maddie. I`m 24 years old, originally from Wisconsin, USA. From August 2015, I was an intern at LEX Institute/Hippo Family Club in Japan for one year. I embarked on my internship shortly after completing my undergraduate.

I`ve had a long-held interest in other cultures, especially due to my past job at WI 4-H International Programs, where I coordinated a wide variety of youth foreign exchanges for four years. The LEX Institute/Hippo Family Club internship offered a perfect opportunity to grow both professionally and personally in terms of cross-cultural communication, teamwork, and empathy.

During my internship, I lived with three long-term host families, and worked in the head Hippo office in downtown Tokyo. I also participated in shorter homestays with Hippo members in Nagoya, Japan and South Korea (Seoul and Daegu). My welcoming host families included me as a true family member. They each offered me unique insights into their daily lives, and enriched my image of what “Japanese” or “Korean” families may be like.

Fellow interns from Korea, France, Taiwan & Mexico

Since I was immersed in Japanese, my language ability flourished! I had studied Japanese in college, but always lacked confidence, and struggled to speak. I thought I was someone who was “bad at languages.” Now, I use and understand Japanese comfortably and naturally! Hippo embraces natural language acquisition, and mistakes are to be treasured, not criticized. This made my process much easier—and fun! Hippo is a multilingual program, so I also could experience other languages. For example, I had never spoken Korean before, but now I can easily use it to introduce myself and have simple conversations. I did poorly in high school Spanish, but now I am excited to realize I can understand a lot, and my desire to speak it has grown exponentially. Hippo is open to all languages, and therefore all kinds of people—now, I believe I am too.

The Hippo internship is engaging and rewarding. Some of my projects included planning and leading orientations for youth delegates heading abroad, working with a multicultural intern team to coordinate and lead multilingual, international understanding workshops, and presenting on American culture to local schools and Hippo clubs.

Before coming to Japan, I had planned on only spending one year here before returning home. However, I loved the work at Hippo, and was so impressed by the kindness and friendship extended to me by the large network of members and staff, that I decided to apply for a full time staff position once my program finished. I was accepted! Now, I have been working here for over a year and a half. It has been an exciting journey, with its own challenges and rewards. I am incredibly thankful that I stepped out of my comfort zone, and traveled halfway across the globe almost 3 years ago. Because of my Hippo internship, I have made lifelong friends and family of many different nationalities, and developed boundless self-confidence. By opening my heart to the world, endless opportunities now lie before me!

Xie xie, terima kasih, muito obrigado!