A warmth surrounds 18-year-old university student Callum Allday. He greets people with smiles and engages with blue eyes. It doesn’t take much to get him talking. He’s eager to converse and trade funny tales of life and friendship.

He has been of help to his friends throughout his life, offering friendship and relationship advice from his local area of Strathmore to the foreign lands of Japan. With a wide range of friends, Callum’s patients are seemingly constant.

The pinnacle of his advice-giving occurred on a school trip to Japan, where he was required to mend a rift between two of his close friends for numerous nights. The trip was a two week exchange program, so Callum didn’t have the time for peacemaking. Despite experiencing a new place and culture, exploration had to take a back seat.

“I tend to be the friend people come to. I can mostly play the role of psychologist for two nights in a row before I get sick of it,” said Callum.

The emotional demands of his help resulted in a horror day for Callum. He finally refused to intervene in friendship fights for the fourth night in a row. Therefore, he was kept awake for most of the night while his phone beeped emergency alerts for a storm. 

His wake up was at 6AM. 

Callum was lucky to get three hours sleep before rushing onto the plane 20 minutes before take-off.

Callum smiles with exasperation. His expressive hands find his grey and black t-shirt. His two best friends had fought for four days in a row, and it had finally made him snap. He had learnt Japanese throughout his high school studies, but he wasn’t enjoying the trip as much as he expected.

“I wanted to go back home. I was sick of a foreign country, of the food,” said Callum. “I was in complete melt-down.”

But this was a low point of an otherwise memorable trip. Callum fondly remembers travelling up to the north island of Hokkaido to meet his host family. The weather in Hokkaido was a more bearable temperature without the intense humidity of Kyoto and Tokyo. His fighting friends agreed on a truce while they went off to their separate host families. Callum had peace.

What Callum saw with his host family was utterly different. No city life, not Strathmore. The farm he was living in was one built entirely by the father.

“The farm was huge. I remember being scared to ask my host family if they had killed the chickens we were eating for dinner,” said Callum.

But Callum soon adjusted to farm-life. He went to school with his host partner and explored the tiny north island without having to worry about constant nosebleeds caused by humidity. On the Saturday, the freezing cold nights gave way to a mild summer’s day that suited shopping at the local mall. Japan was a whole new experience without the drama.

“The Eon shopping mall was like what Westfield is in Australia,” said Callum. He took a particular liking to the bookshop there. “I reckon I spent all of my money, which is 170 bucks, on books,” said Callum.

Callum came to love his time in Japan, testing his knowledge in the language he was learning. The exchange program provided him cultural depth. It’s an experience he’ll long remember.

The trip to Hokkaido ensured Callum would one day long to return to Japan. His lanky frame relaxes. His clear blue eyes glaze over.

“I definitely want to go back to Japan one day. Just not Tokyo – I had a nosebleed every day I was there.”

But, Callum will take a nosebleed over solving friend dramas every day of the week. Especially if he’s in the blissful lands of Japan.