Ask the Study Abroad Student

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have read many of the “Ask the…” posts in the past, and I thought it would be fun to post one of my own. If anything, I also hope it will be helpful to show what to expect for students or the parents of students who would like to study abroad.

The basics: My college is supposedly the number one in the nation for study abroad. Around 85% of the students study abroad at one time or another (for the first 2/3 of the year the college is virtually junior-free, it’s so cool! When the majority return, it feels cramped). There are dozens of sites ranging from China to Spain. A student stays abroad from six to nine months. No matter where you go, you pay the same amount to the college (as if you’re just going to college that year). Jumping through all of the hoops and going through the bureaucracy was a hassle, but worth it in the end. I can go into the application process and what the college did to prepare us if anyone is curious.

My background info: I pretty much chose my college on two things: It’s size and the fact that it meant I would be able to study abroad since it’s built into their curriculum (okay, not the best reasons to choose a college but luckily it’s a decent college to boot). I’ve been interested in Japan since I was in middle school and I knew that I wanted to study abroad during college.
What got me interested in Japanese was the first poorly dubbed anime I ever saw. My first thought was “Wow, this is so bad. It can’t be this bad in Japanese. I wonder what it would be like to learn Japanese…” and it stemmed from there. I really enjoy learning the language. For a long time I thought I would be fine with moving out in Japan and living here as a teacher for the rest of my life. However, as I got older, I realized that I would miss people from home too much and I just no longer had what it took to be Japan’s residential crazy cat lady.
Anyway, I still wanted to study abroad. I worked my butt off to get into Kalamazoo, and worked my butt off in college to meet all of the requirements needed (I even had to give them my blood! :stuck_out_tongue: ).

I’ve been here since September 20th and will be here until the middle of July. I’ve really enjoyed my stay so far. It’s an interesting feeling, to be achieving a goal I’ve had for so many years. I live in a dormitory-type apartment provided by the college, which is right behind the Kyoto imperial palace (which is beautiful!). Classes are 5 days a week for at least three hours. There is always a three hour a day class for basic Japanese practice, followed by whatever classes you choose to sign up for. We were given a small stipend from the college ($7,000 for the 10 month stay), half of which goes straight to bills and the other half to food, transportation, and anything else we need. I earn some extra on the side as an English tutor, which is the best job I have had yet to date.

Needless to say, Japan is quite different from the United States. Kyoto is quite different from my little hometown in Michigan. There are a million things I love about Japan and a handful that I dislike, but I don’t want to keep babbling unless somebody wants to hear what those things are.

I’ll try to answer the questions as often as a can. However, it seems that the source of internet I rely upon/mooch off of (a friend’s :wink: ) is down again; I have no clue how long it will choose to be down for this time. I will try to use my second friend’s internet when I can. :slight_smile:

So if you have any questions about my stay in Japan or study abroad, ask away!

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Wow, that’s a pretty long study-abroad program; most of the ones offered through my college are summer/semester long anyways. What was the hardest thing to adapt to socially? Any social dynamics that were shocking?

Good luck - sounds like you are having fun. I’m so jealous! :slight_smile:

Oh: and how’s the sushi?! Out here in CA even the cheapo stuff is damn good, but I would love to have some maguro right off the boat.

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Just an idea, but perhaps it might be better to mention in your thread title that you’re studying in Japan in particular. :slight_smile:

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Ahhh! Good idea, is there any way to change the title?

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Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of sushi. I want to like it, but the texture of the raw fish gets to me every time, where it gets to be more of a chore than anything to finish eating it. :stuck_out_tongue: I have only had the most common sushi though (tuna, salmon, shrimp, etc.) but I would like to try the non-raw fish ones such as salmon roe and egg. Wish I could say I was more of an expert but the texture just creeps me out more than anything.

Most of the study abroad sites are pretty long because coming into the college, most students already know if they’re going to study abroad or not. Luckily, it’s built into our curriculum here. Kalamazoo goes by quarters; three quarters to the year and 11 weeks to a quarter. If you go for a 6 month study abroad, you come back in time for spring quarter. If you go for 9 months, you’re gone the whole year. :smiley: There is one that is just 6 weeks, which I think is for a site in Mexico which is usually for the people majoring in a science who want the study abroad experience but can’t afford to be gone for so long.

As for socially, I’ve been pretty lucky in that my dorm is full of Japanese students who can speak some English and students from other countries like Germany, South Korea, England, and Thailand. The downside of this dorm is that it’s girls only. For some reason the other college owned dorms are co-ed but heaven forbid the newest dorm be tainted with boys :rolleyes: . As students, we’re pretty much separated from the normal Japanese students at college. We’ve formed a type of international community. It’s hard for most of us to make friends with the Japanese students. Most won’t talk to you by choice, unless you’re in a club or a circle. My friend and I joined a club that had some really wonderful people in it who were extremely friendly. We would have stayed but we found out it was a Buddhism club (that within itself was quite the experience!) and we didn’t want to lead them on into believing that we were going to convert anytime soon. I was a little sad to leave that group. Luckily, a lot of the Japanese girls in my dorm are nice and easy to talk to. For the most part though, it seems that us foreigners stick together and walk around town in what we call the “gaijin parade” :smiley: (foreigner parade).

That reminds me of another thing that was hard to adapt to- getting stared at. When I came here there was always the thought in my mind that said “You’re going to be a novelty here! You’re going to be the cool foreign thing!” and I was right, in a sense. Not foreign enough to be worshiped (um, this wasn’t my real expectation, I swear :wink: ) but foriegn enough to be stared at to a degree at some point when you go outside and to have people gasp and say “foriegner!” as you walk by. It does make me a little self concious, especially considering how back home I would hate when random people said things or punks honked their car horns at me, it was enough to turn me red with embarassment.

Another thing that is so different from home is the fact that people are outside, walking around in the city well past 11 p.m. Where I live at home, that idea is just unheard of. It’s too unsafe to walk by yourself anywhere, let alone at night. Here, however, you can walk freely- with friends or even alone- and not have the slightest worry. It’s a great feeling.

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Hey there! I also studied abroad in Japan, but only for 3 months, and in the suburbs of Tokyo. I went to a D-level university called Senshu (it was cheap and I got a sweet scholarship). I visited Kyoto for a week though, and when I went to visit the Imperial Palace I accidentally walked the opposite direction from the subway station and ran into a college. I wonder if that’s where you attend? I can’t remember the name now.

Anyways, how are you coping with homesickness and culture shock whatnot? It didn’t really effect me, but I was only there for three months… I quite missed things like cheddar cheese, cheap produce, etc. by the time I returned home but that was all. I guess I’m just curious to see how your stay is going compared to mine. Have you been traveling around the country–have you gone to Tokyo? Do you get annoyed by your classmates? (I sure did after 3 months, 4 hours a day in class…) Do you go to nomihoudais* and karaoke? Do your *professors *take you out to nomihoudais and karaoke? (Mine did. Somewhat traumatizing!) What are your favorite places in Kyoto? I went around to all the tourist sites, but I was in such a whirlwind tour that I never really got a feel for the town at all…

Like you, I loved the feeling of safety in Japan. I would wander around in downtown Tokyo by myself all the time. I feel more threatened in broad daylight in my dinky little city’s downtown. At my school, all the English majors would come to the international dorm and attempt to talk to us, thus I met quite a few Japanese people. Not the case at your school?

*All you can drink!

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That’s a common complaint - sorry, it was also a bad assumption on my part that you would automatically enjoy it! Any local specialties that you are especially fond of, though? (Sorry, I’m a foodie by nature, so I’m always wondering what food I’m missing out on!)

That’s kind of unfortunate that your dorm is strictly female; a co-ed environment would seem to me to be more culturally instructive.

I think that’s really cool that Kalamazoo places so much emphasis on SA programs. The SA programs at my school (UCLA) are pretty expensive and difficult to get into. Study abroad was always a good thing, but I think more important now than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Our world is so small!

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Ah, it’s okay! Sushi is one of those foods that I keep trying over and over, each time thinking "I’m sure it’ll taste good this time…darnit! :smack: "

I was really unhappy when I found out that the dorm was females only (which was the night I flew in, they decided to give me and my friend a full tour and explanation of the rules despite the fact we were dead tired!) but that doesn’t stop girls from sneaking in guys when the headmistress is gone for the day. We have to sneak them in the back so that they don’t get caught by the security camera in the front. It gets a bit tiring, though, to have to wait until 6 or 7 at night just to bring them in.

I was really impressed with Kalamazoo. I had settled for going to Eastern Michigan University until my aunt pestered me until I finally agreed to take a tour around Kalamazoo (and I’m grateful to this day that she pestered me so much!). I really do like how Kalamazoo stresses the experience of study abroad; it’s amazing to see people return back and see the transformation they’ve undergone. It makes you appreciate things a lot more, and just makes you a more culturally aware person, I think. I wish more colleges would make it easier for the students to be able to go abroad. The world is definitely getting smaller! I recommend reading a book called “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. I read it for my major’s sophomore seminar, and it talks about how the world is getting smaller and the playing fields are becoming more level as technology is becoming more advanced, it was my favorite book of the class.

I like food too! :smiley: I actually need to hop back onto my diet. This two month break they gave us has caused me to fall upon bored eating. Anyway, there are a lot of good foods that I have never seen at home before (or I have seen at home but was too scared to try!). There is okonomiyaki (which means “cooked as you like it”, which is like a Japanese pancake filled with your choice of seafood and vegetables, grilled and served with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonaise. I haven’t tried these yet but everyone that I know who has likes them. There is also takoyaki, which is balls of cooked dough, in the center of each has a piece of octopus, yum! :smiley: Those too are usually covered with something similar to okonomiyaki sauce, seaweed flakes, and sometimes mayonaise. There are a lot of bredded and deep fried products such as tonkatsu, chikinkatsu, hamukatsu (pork cutlets, chicken cuts, and slices of ham), and krokke: croquets. Kokke can come with beef, crab, squash, or shrimp mixed in. Plain krokket are just mashed potatoes covered in bread crumbs and deep fried. So good, even if it does shave years off your life!
My personal favorites are Japanese chocolates (they hurt my teeth less for some reason), ice cream (they come in many flavors here like peach, melon, caramel, and black sesame), and tempura. Shimp tempura is my favorite! I have also discovered the wonder that is kimchee recently.

I could go on and on and on about the food here. All of the different fruits and vegetables and things that are different from home are highly entertaining to try.

I’ll try to post more, gotta run to my tutoring gig!

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I never did the study abroad program at my university, as it actually cost a bit more than studying at home and I was waffling a lot at the time over my course of study. (Had I known earlier that I wanted to do museum studies, I would’ve done an art history minor and taken some of the art history related courses while studying abroad in Europe.)

It seems like you guys are not separated much from the rest of the study abroad people, which is a bit different from what Florida State University appears to do. (They have their own specific campuses that are only for FSU students, so it seems like they’re pretty isolated.) Do your classes have regularly scheduled field trips and such so that you can take in more of the local culture of where you’re studying? What’s the neatest thing that you’ve seen in Japan so far?

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Where did you meet the broad?

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Hi Tanaqui! Yep, that was probably my college you ran into. It’s Doshisha daigaku, right across the street from the Imperial Palace. All of us foreign kids have different classes specially designed for us, so we’re unfortunately separated from the Japanese students. Sometimes one of my teachers would ask us to stay after to talk to her Japanese students (they were majoring in English) but that was the extent of it, sadly.
All of our main classes are taught in Japanese, with one or two on the side available in other languages. There’s a branch here where their study abroad kids are taught in English! I couldn’t imagine doing that, I would just feel cheated out of so much listening practice and exposure over the year, myself.

I got a little homesick. The first time was right at the airport, after I had said goodbye to my Dad (it was just the second time in my life that I had seen him cry). My worst homesickness happened over the holiday season. Some of my friends went home, and some were able to have their parents visit. My Dad can’t take the time off to do that and I didn’t want to have him pay so much money just for me to fly home for a little bit. I also felt like I would have been cheating myself out of the experience here; I figured that days spent here would be better for my Japanese than forgetting it at home. Some of my friends told me that they had a hard time adjusting for the second time after returning from their trip home, so I was glad I decided against it. I do keep in touch with family and friends via e-mail, chatting, and a livejournal that’s open for everyone to see (I’d post the address here but I’m not sure that I am allowed to here) and that has definitely helped. I can’t imagine how people studied abroad without being able to communicate with their loved ones via internet!

There really wasn’t much of a culture shock, more of a “Ohmygod I can’t read any of this stuff!” kind of shock when I first arrived here. If it wasn’t for my friend who also came here, we would have been stranded at the airport as I forgot the one paper that had the phone number we needed to call to have somebody come pick us up. Sure, I may not be able to read all of the ingredients on the back of a carton of ice cream here, but I do know when things say “oil free” and “no smoking” and “this is an automatic toilet”.
A woman who was fairly fluent in English told me that it would take at least a year in Japan for me to have a real culture shock, but I won’t be here that long.

I haven’t been to karaoke as of yet. I do plan to go before I leave here. I have been invited dozens of times, too. I’ve even been told that I sing really well. Truth be told, I am just mortified at the idea of singing in front of my friends. It’s going to take a lot of alcohol to get me warmed up to the idea.
And by a lot of alcohol I mean 2 good drinks.
That’s partially the reason I’ve never been to a nomihodai/tabehodai yet. I’ve been invited, but I always seemed short on money at the time and I couldn’t be bothered to spend $20 when I could get buzzed for less than $3 by buying 2 fruity cocktail drinks at the nearby convenience store (I’m not a lightweight, I’m just economical! :smiley: ). But, as with karaoke, I do plan to go at least once before I have to return home.

Another reason I never went to the nomihodai is because of a girl in particular who went, who I was not a fan of. Rather, I felt that I put up with her “I know everything” (which is far from the truth) attitude that I already had to put up with in my 3 hour a day class AND in my apartment. So to answer your other question, yes, there are a few people in my class that annoy me. There’s Ms. Thinks-she-knows-it-all, Mr. Really-does-know-everything-except-how-to-not-be-creepy, and Mr. I-mutter-to-myself-and-come-in-late-everyday-yelling-“tadaima!”-and-never-follows-along-with-the-class-and-my-diet-of-6-egg-omlettes-and-Calorie Mate-is-going-to-rot-my-brain-even-worse. So yes, there are a couple of people in my class that annoy me (and it’s only a class of 8!). However, we’re doing a reentrance exam and I’m using them as motivation to study my butt off and get in a higher level. With the exception of a few weirdos and a few otaku, most of the kids though are hard working and fun to hang around with.

I haven’t been outside of Kyoto yet, with the exception of a weekend trip to Toyama. Kalamazoo is a pretty expensive school, so I’m in debt. I didn’t have much in my bank account to begin with and I wasn’t able to land a summer job (Kzoo lets us out a month later than all the other colleges so we lose out in that aspect). I hate asking family for extra money or accepting money that I didn’t earn, it’s just a quirk of mine. The college gave us $7,000 to survive off of 10 months with. Half of that goes straight to bills and housing, and the majority of the other half goes to other living expenses. I’m just trying to set aside enough to bring back some decent souvenirs for my family, not everything needs to come from the hyaku en shops (did you ever go to those during your stay! They’re awesome!). I doubt I’ll get to Tokyo this time around, sadly. I just keep telling myself that I’ll more likely than not come back to Japan in the future so there will be many more chances to travel around.

I love bike riding around Kyoto and seeing what I can find. Countless hyaku en shops, vegetable stands, etc. My favorite places are Gosho, Daimonji, Kamogawa, and Teramachi. I also like browsing around Kyoto station, it’s fun to wander around and try free samples- I try to put on my best blank foreigner face that says “Your candy looks intriguing. I might just try a few pieces and wander off because I’m a foreigner and that’s what we do.” :smiley: (Truth be told, I always feel horribly obligated when I get caught and cornered by any of the sellers, damn my overly sensitive conscience!). I love looking at all of the cute things that I want but have no use for. It makes me feel like a kid at Christmastime again.

Don’t you just love the safety here? I love bike riding back from the sentou in the middle of the night, and not having to look over my shoulder. I love riding home from a bar without feeling the need to peddle as fast as possible. I love taking walks or rides in dark, warm nights without that paranoia that I always have back home. It’s almost like regaining a sense of innocence, not having to worry about being kidnapped or approached or anything bad like that. It’s amazing how that knowledge of safety can make you feel. Just having that worry out of your mind makes the world seem so much brighter and enjoyable. I think that’s the thing that I will miss the most when I return home, because it feels like you have to lose that feeling of innocence all over again just to assimilate back into the old ways.

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[party pooper hat on] While it’s true that Japan is a very safe place, IMHO you should be more careful. Japanese people have dark sides just like everyone else, and Kyoto also has some very seedy streets and alleyways. 99 times out of 100 your attitude is fine and you will be safe, but, as a young woman especially, you should always have some caution and sense of your surroundings.

I could tell you the story about how I got mugged in Japan. Truthfully though, I brought it on myself. Just saying, violent crime does happen and being a foreigner doesn’t make much of a difference. [party pooper hat off]

飲み放題について, concerning all-you-can-drink bars, a main attraction for many of them is the beautiful women they partner you with upon sitting down. This woman serves your drinks, talks with you, and often flirts with you. Some places also have back rooms, but not all. Well, bars such as those are called “bunny bars” and may just be a particular subset of nomihoudai.

ところで何歳なの？ Just curious, how old are you? (You dont have to answer if you dont want to).

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I find it a shame that a lot of colleges make study abroad too costly. The college I had settled on before switching to Kalamazoo was the same; if I had gone there I highly doubt that I would have even bothered with studying abroad. I would say that the main reason I switched my choice was just so I could study abroad. And the college itself isn’t so bad, not until next year at least.

Most study abroad sites have us mixed with other students from other colleges. Most of us never know to what degree however, since we aren’t really informed of that kind of thing. I had no clue that there would be a good 50 other international students in my program when I arrived. I do like it this way though, because I have made many friends with the international students and I have learned so much about their countries and cultures just by hanging out with them. Only a few study abroad sites are exclusive. There is a site in Hikone (Japan) where all the students who attend come from Michigan colleges only, for example.

I really had no clue what to expect going in, to be honest. I thought there would be a lot less international students. Our college only has two spots open for Kyoto every year so I thought that meant that the college itself had a small program. I was glad to see that I was wrong!

The college doesn’t have us go on field trips, unfortunately. It’s good in other ways, such as providing welcoming parties for the new students. There is a culture class that you can sign up for; it’s known as the “field trip class”. Every week we would bike ride or walk to nearby places in the city to have our classes, each week had a different topic and different place (such as koto lessons, flower arranging, tea ceremony, and painting). This class is really fun and extremely popular. It helped to expose me to things that I associate with Japanese culture but had no clue how to find, it’s been my favorite class so far.

I haven’t been out of Kyoto much (I hope to change this soon). The neatest thing I have seen so far is a panoramic view of Kyoto. You can see all of Kyoto from a few choice spots. My favorite spot to view Kyoto is on top of Daimonji (a mountain). The climb up is about 45 minutes, but worth it once you see the view. Everything looks so small and miniature, to realize that you’re a part of the working city, and that every small person down there has a life and path of their own, it kind of overwhelms the brain to think about.
Sorry, getting a little philosophical, but it really is fun to think about. The scenery climbing up is amazing, too.

I’m fine, I’m fine. :slight_smile: I guess I wanted to have the optimistic attitude “I won’t be afraid until I’m given something to be afraid of”. It’s just such a radical change from home, where I’m nervous just walking to the corner in broad daylight in my hometown. I’m already worried about going back to my college next year; I’ve taken a job that doesn’t get out until 11:00 p.m. and even though the house I’ll be living in is only a 5 minute walk away, I’m terrified of having to do it 4 times a week because people here get mugged so often. When I think of what I’m going to have to return to, it makes me want to just enjoy not having that feeling of dread and fear here even more while I still can. I do bike ride with friends when I can (such as coming back from the sentou) but more often than not we’re scattered due to our different schedules (due to work, family visiting, etc.) and sometimes it’s just nice to get in a bike ride alone. How did you get mugged in Japan?

I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking so I haven’t bothered with nomihoudai yet. The ones that I heard of were pretty plain, no beautiful women, because they were just birthday parties or going away parties. I think the bunnies and women would make me less inclined to go. :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh, and I am ２１歳, 21 years old.

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How’s the stress level there like? My friends have been telling me that Japanese schools are one of the most stressful places to be…

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I’ll make a thread telling this story upon the morrow。

かっこいじゃん。日本語がしゃべられてそんなに若いなんて。 That’s awesome, to be so young and speak good Japanese.

Well, of course, I’m 23 so we’re in the same boat :wink:

Have you been to the Fox Shrine yet? とても美しいだよ。 It’s very beautiful. When I was there last summer, I went at night. It’s a huge place, and I only met two people in 3 hours of walking through the grounds. Creepy fun.

I actually got lost, haha. On my way back to the beginning, on the right hand side, I took a shortcut that went down the mountain. The sign said shortcut, but I probably misread the kanji… anyway, after climbing down I went through some small roads and got horribly mixed up. The fun part was I took a bath in a holy waterfall :cool: Sacrilegious perhaps, but nobody saw me, and I dont think the waterfall spirit minded :wink:
I certainly appreciated getting all the stinky sweat off me.

Oh, it’s so much fun to have somebody else to tell such stories with (=´∇｀=)

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I think the stress levels vary from school to school. Of course students cramming to get into a well respected school are going to be more stressed than those who aren’t, and those at private school are going to be held to higher standards than those at public schools. Bullying seems to be a growing problem from what I have read. The government is also trying to reinstate 6 day schoolweeks, saying that they feel that today’s kids have become lazy and less educated. One thing that surprises me is how students can be at school literally all day. A high school student that I tutor told me that her normal day includes being at school until around 8 p.m. :eek:

College seems to be a bit easier here for Japanese students, in comparison to what college is like back home. For example, a teacher of mine would want us native English speakers to stay after our class so that we could talk to the kids in her next class. These students were supposedly majoring in English, but they could barely understand me! It just seemed like they knew the most basic English. If I was to major in a language at a college back home, I would have to make sure that I knew the language pretty thouroughly- at least enough to survive in a country that spoke the language- which these students were far from able to do. Granted, English is a difficult language to learn, but I had expected a little more from people who were majoring in it. College seems easier here, but I wonder if that’s because a lot of jobs offer on site training to their employees.

As for me, this year is the easiest of my 4 years. :smiley:
Nothing but learning Japanese, doing Japanese homework, and trying to improve my speaking skills. Grading is a lot less harsh. No long research papers to write, no field work to do, nothing other than learning Japanese. It’s like a vacation to me.

Sorry I can’t help you out any more with information about the school systems here!

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Heh, if you think life as a college student in Japan is easy, you check out how the professors live! :smiley:

Any thoughts about returning to Japan after graduation?

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Most places that do nomihodais, in my experience, are just normal izakayas or other types of bars, and the experience can range from a trashy college kid hangout with a private room and a karaoke setup and all the beer you can knock back in two hours, to a table in a classy pub with tasty food and cocktails. It is pretty expensive though. I went to my school’s “unofficial farewell party” but I got there an hour late and I still had to pay for the full time… this does not lead to healthy drinking habits, let me tell you. I’ve never gotten so drunk so quickly. Gotta get your moneys worth! I really miss cassis cocktails though. They don’t seem to have them in America. :confused: I’m not a big drinker, though, I swear! I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere, and often times Japanese kids would come along as well… always fun to have mildly drunken conversations with them. I convinced this really cute boy to teach me the dirtiest Japanese words he could think of, but I can’t remember any of them…

Glad to hear it! I can only imagine how crazy I’d have gone if I’d had to be around my classmates for more than 3 months, seriously. I was in the very beginning class, but I’d already taken 1 semester of Japanese over the summer–which my school told me was required. But they started over with hiragana and katakana and introducing yourself! so that also made it somewhat annoying. But some of the people… there was the heavy drinkers who were always hung over, the annoying girl who was incapable of answering a simple question (she always had to argue about it), the three valley girl-types who didn’t know ANYTHING about Japan whatsoever, and were absolutely terrible at Japanese (the teacher was always yelling at them for writing in Romanji). And there were only like 9 people in my class, too! Luckily I made really good friends with some girls outside of my class…

The thing that amazed me was the commutes. I don’t know what it’s like at your school, but people who went to the crappy little university I attended would make two hours commutes EACH WAY. Every day of the week! And before they went home, they would go to their part time jobs!! Gotta be able to afford those Louis Vitton purses…

Speaking of that, what do you think of Japanese fashion? You’re a girl, right? I have to say I really enjoyed all the metrosexual Japanese boys… girls terrified me a bit though, with their high-heeled boots, mini skirts, and formal shorts. I often felt quite dumpy. We had this hill we had to climb every day to get to school–the university was above the town, so all the other students were climbing it too. And these girls would walk by me, in 3 inch stiletto heels, up this ridiculously long and steep hill! 'Twas truly amazing.

But of course! I still have this totally sweet belt I bought at a 100 yen store in Harajuku… Actually, I don’t know how your living situation is set up, but we had a kitchen and all at our dorms, so I would actually do quite a bit of grocery shopping at the kyukyu (99 yen store.) Do you have those in Kyoto as well? I don’t know if it’s a national chain or what. It was a bit sketch perhaps, e.g. the apples had this unnerving oily feel to them, but if you washed them off they tasted fine! And they were only 99 yen! Plus they were freakin’ enormous. I also bought other basic things like eggs, milks, etc. that were cheaper than the local grocery store as well. And I bought a tiny plant for my dorm room… Sadly it could not return to my home with me.

Hah! That really happens to you? Everyone in our area (it was actually a suburb of Kawasaki City) seemed fairly blase about it all… but it was very near Tokyo after all. The only occasion I can really remember anything like that is when we were all on a field trip to Hakone, and this elementary school was there as well… we could hear all the kids saying “gaijin! gaijin!” Heh. But yeah, people would definitely *look *at you, it’s true.

Do you have any special hobbies that you pursue in Japan? For example, are you still interested in anime or manga? I love Japanese rock music so I went to a bunch of concerts while I was in Tokyo… Not something I could do anywhere else, and it definitely made the experience even more awesome.

Man, I miss Japan. :frowning:

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I’ll keep an eye out for the thread!

Not yet! Is it in Kyoto? I’ve heard a little bit about it from classmates, and it’s definitely a site that I want to go to as soon as the weather warms up. It’s pretty chilly outside still and has snowed a few times this week, it feels like spring will never come!

Definitely. :smiley: I like hearing all of the experieces everyone has during their stay in Japan, everyone has an entertaining story to tell!

I’m guessing that you’re a professor. :wink:

I can see where that’s coming from though! I tutor through a company here to make some money on the side and I LOVE it! :smiley: It’s the best job I have had to date. I can’t believe I get paid so much to basically talk in English for a few hours (I use Japanese too, of course). All the people I teach are really nice and the time just flies by during each session. I even get a sense of accomplishment, like I’m actually serving a purpose and helping people out. I would love to take on more and I wish they would give me more jobs, but I doubt that will be probable as I’m leaving in a few months. I know that I am going to miss tutoring; there just won’t be anything like it when I return home.

I don’t think that I am going to return to live here after college. In the middle school, I was totally ready to leave everything and everyone behind and I thought I could contently live by myself. While the middle school me could, I know that the current me couldn’t. I would like to come back for business trips or to travel, just not to live here.
I’m not really sure as to what I would like to do after graduation. My top choice would be to teach Japanese at a high school, but I’m not sure how likely that is. I always joke to my friends that I’ll be the only Cinnabuns worker who is fluent in Japanese, but even that might be a dream. :stuck_out_tongue:

How hard is it to be a professor in Japan? I had one teacher who taught the only class that was in English (I think it was World Economics, I don’t even know because she made it all up as she went along). She was a total nutcase. She said she had been living in Japan for 20 years but I swear to Og, I don’t think she knew a lick of Japanese. We never heard her speak it and we never saw her write in it. I knew for a fact that she did not know kanji. When she brought in her salarymen coworkers (from a different job) to give presentations, she would only talk to them in English. She was impressed that us students would talk to these men in Japanese! :eek:
She would only talk to her Japanese students in English, too. It didn’t help that she spoke quick, and she came from England. It was obvious that the students had no clue what she was saying as they would just nod blankly (as I do when the headmistress of my dorm talks to me in quick kansai-ben).
Oh, and she also tried to convince the class that square watermelons were made by harvesting and breeding with mutated watermelon genes* :smack:, among her many crackpot theories. I skipped that class more than I have skipped all of my other classes (here and at home) combined. Anyways, aside from the ranting, it just amazes me that she is still hired and teaching kids, despite all of this. I just couldn’t imagine living here for so long and still not knowing the language.

*Nobody in the class believed her, luckily. I knew that they were just grown inside boxes and when I told her, she tried to convince me otherwise. I even went home and looked it up, just to be 101% sure. She vented her crazy theories with no proof all the time and was so sure of herself, it was scary. I’m just amazed that she has survived in Japan this long!

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Actually, I’m not a professor. I started as an English conversation teacher for a few years in Shizuoka, then moved to Tokyo to start an office job (I’m in advertising now). I have a couple of friends who teach at colleges (actually, now that think I about it, I taught history at one college for a few weeks as a sub once), and I’m constantly amazed at how little they work.

To lecture at a college, you may not need any more than a college degree (which you would need anyway to qualify for the International Relations and Humanities Specialist (or something like that) visa that all the eikaiwa teachers have. Some colleges will require more, but it depends on the school.