Tears will flow when Seina Ito and Summer Gleeson part ways tonight after living together for three months as sisters.
Seina, 17, was one of 15 students from Tezukayama Gakuin, a senior high school in Osaka, Japan, on a three-month cultural exchange with Marlborough Girls' College.
The group took the ferry for a day trip to Wellington yesterday and were to fly to Auckland from Blenheim this evening to catch their flight back to Japan.
Summer, 14, whose family hosted Seina and has hosted other international students in the past at their Renwick home, said it was "strange" having another person in the family, but they soon got used to it.
The three months they spent together went quickly, she said.
"I like having her around and I will miss her."
A trip to Japan to visit her newfound sister was possibly on the cards and the pair planned to keep in touch via email, she said.
When the Express spoke to Seina when the group arrived in September her main goal was to improve her English, which she believes she has done through the college and living with her host family.
During her time in New Zealand, Seina had acquired a taste for Kiwi cuisine, stating lamb and hokey pokey icecream as her favourite foods. A night at the family bach in the Pelorus Sound and a trip to Whites Bay were among the highlights of her stay.
She planned to eventually come back to New Zealand and although she missed her family, did not want to return to Japan.
Seina has one year left at high school and then plans to study English at university.
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