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