Where can you order a shrimp burger at a two-story McDonald's? In Japan.

That was something 20 students from Burris Laboratory School in Muncie discovered last year when they traveled to Japan.

In the only exchange program in the United States involving elementary students, the participants prepared for several months for their weeklong stay in Okazaki , near Tokyo, where they lived with host families and attended school.

For most students, staying with a Japanese family was a highlight.

"My favorite part of the trip was just being with another family who you had never met before, and by the time we left, it was like they were your mom and dad and your brothers and sisters. I mean, they probably would have kept us if they had the chance," said Pamela Bartle , 13.

Pamela and her 16-year-old brother, Nick, stayed with a family with three children, whom they liked.

"The little boy, who was probably 12, he was a sumo wrestler for the school, a big kid. His name was Siggy. He was just hilarious, and he'd throw me and my sister around," said Nick.

The Japanese families were very accommodating and even willing to sacrifice comfort for these American students.

"The parents gave up their bedroom so we could sleep in there, and then they slept on the floor in the other room. That was really nice of them," said Amber Egbert , 14.

For these students, language was not often a barrier. Although they had taken several months of Japanese before they came, they didn't have to use it very much.

"A lot of people spoke English," explained Amber. "And whenever we tried to speak some of the Japanese we learned, we probably hadn't had enough practice at it, so they kind of laughed at us."

The students went to school for half the day, then went on field trips in the afternoon and returned to their host families in the evening.

Students had an interpreter with them at school most of the time or they found other ways to communicate.

"It was easy communicating without words when playing a game, kickball or whatever. (The Japanese kids) were just like us, just with a different language," said Terry Witzke , 12.

The students ate both ethnic meals and American food during their stay in Japan.

"My host family would ask us if we wanted to eat American food or Japanese food. Usually we'd say Japanese because the whole experience was to know about the Japanese culture," said Quinn Edward , 15.

Some students weren't so adventurous. "When we got there the first morning, I remember we had a traditional Japanese meal. That was a very difficult meal for a lot of us," said Amber.

Kassity Delk , 15, explained that breakfast included smoked fish, pickled seaweed, pickled radish, soup with tofu, poached egg with meat, and a bowl of rice.

Host families tried to adjust the meals to the needs of the students staying with them.

"They could always tell when we had trouble. Some of the meals we had there were a lot like what they would have and some were like what we would have," said Amber.

During the trip, students noticed many differences between American and Japanese schools.

"The school was really different in general, because hallways didn't exist. All the doors went to the outside, and they had sidewalks," said Meredith McGriff , 15.

"They had no cafeteria. They had cafeteria people who make the food, but then they have students bring the food into the rooms and serve it."

The students also had to adjust to wearing school uniforms. "They were jumpers, and you didn't get to wear long pants under them," Amber explained.

Many students didn't like school. Although they had interpreters, they couldn't understand many of the lessons, and the classes were different than in America.

"School was so boring. Everything was in Japanese, and we didn't understand it," said Hannah Cheesman , 14.

"They had a lots of the same subjects, like home ec and gym class, but they also had calligraphy class, which we don't have," added Meredith.

Calligraphy was difficult for the Americans. "It was very confusing because the brush had to go a certain way," said Pamela.

The students noticed many different customs in Japan. For instance, the Japanese had many rules regarding shoes.

"We had to change our shoes a lot. We had the school uniform shoes, and if you had to just walk across the courtyard or something, you had to change out of the school uniform shoes into your tennis shoes, walk across carrying your school shoes, then change back," Amber said.

"Almost everywhere you went you had to change your shoes a bunch. And you can't show the bottom of your shoes, the soles. So it was kind of hard sometimes remembering the things," she added.

For some, the Japanese bathrooms were a problem.

"In bathrooms in Japan, they have both Western-style toilets and traditional Japanese toilets. The traditional Japanese toilets are basically a hole in the floor," Kassity said. "One of the girls in our group stepped in a squat toilet and had to go on the field trip with a very wet sneaker."

The students' trip changed many of the preconceived ideas they had of the Japanese.

"We were told that all the Japanese children were extremely quiet and well-behaved. From all of our experiences, they were pretty well-behaved, but maybe it was just because they were around us and they were excited, but they were all extremely hyper and talkative," said Kassity.

Nick was surprised at how busy the cities in Japan are.

"The city we stayed in really wasn't that big for a Japanese city, but it looked just like Las Vegas -- lights everywhere," he said.

The experiences in Japan made the students more culturally aware.

"It changed my life, actually, because I'm taking classes to learn to speak Japanese now, and I'm learning a lot about Japan -- a lot more than I knew before we went," said Meredith.

Saying goodbye was hard for everyone.

"It was really sad because our host families and all the kids in the family were all crying. They were running up to the windows in the bus and waving at us," Meredith said. "You never know if you're gonna see them again."

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Andrea Cowden, 17; Darrell Ford, 16; Kate Lumpkin, 14.