That title makes it sound as though it will be incredibly boring.
Don't worry, it probably won't fail to live up to that expectation.
Hello and good day, regardless! I will be your tour guide for this hopefully spectacular study-abroad trip to Tokyo, Japan, where I will be doing an intensive study of, you guessed it, Japanese. I'll be there from April to August, hopefully getting some of my upper-division hours out of the way while I'm at it. It's nice to meet you, and if I already know you, well. It was nice to meet you whenever I met you, surely.
A little about me, I suppose. Call me Rigantona, for internet anonymity purposes. I'm 19 years old and floating aimlessly somewhere between a second and third year in college, majoring in foreign language. At the moment, my concentration is divided into Japanese and Russian, but hopefully I'll learn several other languages before my brain decides it hates me and retires. My hobbies include spinning poi, being a complete newbie to bellydance, reading, writing, sewing, drawing, and playing the piano terribly.
I've been obsessed with Asia in general since I was a tiny sprout. Somewhere between my aunt having amazing Vietnamese friends around while I was growing up, my first restaurant being Chinese, and Disney's Mulan being released when I was still relatively small, I was pretty much set up to love the area from the start. My focus narrowed down to Japan when I was about nine years old or so and discovered comic books and anime, and from then until about 14, I was one of the more obnoxious fans you could potentially come across. Then I discovered the intrigue of Russian history and the beauty of their literature, and I also learned the ideas of balance and moderation. It was about that time that I successfully learned how to discuss other topics. A bit of personal growth didn't hurt, either.
From there, my interests have broadened substantially, though I have never forgotten my original interests. Needless to say, a trip to Japan has always been a bit of a dream of mine, and so, to have the date of my departure for Tokyo approaching fast is both incredibly exciting and incredibly nervewracking.
I head out April 1st, and that, I'm positively ecstatic to say, is no joke.
I'll return on 10th August.
It's really incredible, how far this has all come. I started working on my application during the late summer of last year--In July, I believe, just before a trip to see my parents. I e-mailed the study abroad advisor, who I found out was no longer the study abroad advisor, and was re-directed to the head of study abroad entirely. Arranging a time to meet, we got together some time and discussed my options. I had originally planned to go to Nagoya Gakuin to study, but was re-directed to one of the new schools they had just formed study-abroad ties with, in Tokyo. So, after some initial confusions and complications, it was decided that I would study at JF Oberlin in Machida, Tokyo.
And then the paperwork began. Oh, goodness, did the paperwork begin. Except it wasn't all on paper--the university had just switched to an internet-based application, which is all fine and dandy, save the fact that I was one of the first students to apply that way and, as a result, something of a guinea pig. Fortunately, the Study Abroad staff are all kind people who were willing to help me through every step of the way, and, miraculously, I somehow turned everything in the day before the due date.
On top of the application, though, there were the scholarship applications. The university's scholarship application wasn't too bad--I finished that in a few days. The others were quite long, some requiring me to write several essays to explain why I'm going to Japan and what I'm doing there, all individually. It was worth it, though, in the long run, because although I didn't get all of the scholarships, I did manage to scrape up one really good one. The Freeman-ASIA scholarship proved quite generous and, from them, I received $5,000 for my travel expenses. It has wound up covering both my plane ticket and my dormitory expenses, which were both pretty hefty purchases. It may be worth looking into for anyone planning to study abroad anywhere in Asia. It's designed especially with those, like myself, who rely heavily on the FAFSA and other scholarships in order to even consider attending college. The other two scholarships to which I applied that I did not receive, but may be worth your while, are the Bridging Scholarship and the Benjamin A Gilman Scholarship.
The applications all took a lot of time and effort, but in the long run, I feel that it was worth it in trying.
Once I had all of that applied for and out of the way, I could finally take a bit of a breath and relax. I couldn't relax too much, mind you, but I could relax some. I got approved to go some time a few months back, I believe in November or December, and I had to scrape up some small things in order to get my certificates to apply for my visa. Oberlin itself also had a few things it wanted me to fill out just recently, a couple of forms to fill out discussing my goals and what I already know in Japanese.
So, by the time Winter Break rolled around and I had all of this done, I could finally slow down and take some time for myself and my family, which was good, because that break demanded a lot of family time as well as time to sort out some serious personal matters.
I was originally planning to audit a few classes in order to keep my languages up and well-studied, but by the time the Spring Semester rolled around, so much had happened over break that I decided it was best to get some rest while I had the opportunity, and I must say that so far, I don't regret the decision. Not to say I've accomplished much in the past few months, but that was kind of the entire point of it all, and I'm happy it was successful.
I bought my plane tickets some time in late January or early February over Vayama, back when the gas prices had started to fall [got them pretty cheaply that way], and I sewed a couple of new clothing pieces. Played through a few video games, too, and made a lot of progress in my extra-curricular pursuits. I guess these past few months haven't been entirely unproductive, then, hm?
Two more updates until I leave. Wednesday seems like a fine day to write up reports, hm? Rounded and perfectly in the middle of the week.
Perhaps this is how it should be, lest something unforeseen demands my attention on a Wednesday and I have to postpone the update.
Wednesday it is, then.
Have a photo of one of the daffodils currently in my front yard.
'Til next week.
-RD
No comments:
Post a Comment