Take this advice to heart my friends: if you plan to go abroad for an entire semester maybe do it in the fall so you have the summer to get ready without the nightmare of balancing finals. While I’m frantically trying to finish final projects and studying for tests, I’m also doing things for scholarships, packing, and getting my visa. I had no idea that Japanese Certificates of Eligibility have a requirement that you must enter the country three months after they’re issued, so you have to apply for your visa terrifyingly close to your departure date. I have a somewhat irrational fear of my visa request getting rejected because I did something wrong and it’s not helping me get through finals in any way. I’m trusting the Japanese consulate when they say the process of getting the Visa will take 5 days and telling my anxiety to calm down. I have filled out the application, printed out my COE, and am getting my picture printed. Once everything is gathered up I can make my appointment in Atlanta.
Am I still very excited? Absolutely, I have been looking forward to this study abroad since middle school. My middle school self may not have considered this trip exactly, but traveling abroad for an extended time and studying in another country has been my dream for many years. And I am absolutely using this blog post as an excuse to not be finishing my final papers? Maybe, don’t ask too many questions.
I also have to ask myself the question: How do I pack for a semester? Normally when I head to college for a semester I stuff my car to the limit with all the things I think I’ll need, clothes, books, my sewing supplies, bedding, cooking supplies, etc. But now I have to think about how to fit my semester into a suitcase and a carry on. I got an idea from my close friend who is an international student here at UA, what he did his freshman year was only pack a few days worth of clothing and then bought all his other clothing once he landed. I think I’ll do the same. I know I’ll definitely be buying all of my toiletries there, this is too long of a trip to pack my own and the University I’m staying with has even given me an allowance to buy what I need. My return flight allows me 2 checked bags so I can take back more than I brought, though I’ll still probably choose to resell or give away the clothes I’ll get during the semester to make room for all of the trinkets and gifts I’ll bring back. It’s amazing how when you tell people you know, even if you’ve met them twice at a bus stop, that you’re going to Japan for a whole semester they’ll ask you to bring something back for them. At this rate I need to make a list and decide who is close enough to me that it’s going to be a present and who will be paying for the “shipping cost.”
So where am I going in Japan? Oh that’s a wonderful question! Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-shi. If you’ve never heard of Hirakata, don’t feel too bad, I haven’t met any Americans who have. Usually I just tell people I’m going to Osaka because it’s not entirely untrue. Osaka is both a city and a prefecture (like a state here in the US). I chose to go to Kansai Gaidai mainly because it was the only full exchange program in the Kansai region of Japan and I want to learn Kansai-ben. Any Japanese person from Tokyo probably gaped at that and said “えええええええええ、なんで?” では、関西弁はめっちゃかっこいいんじゃないかと思います。東京弁より関西弁の方が面白そうですね。今、アラバマ大学は東京弁だけが教えるために、東京弁で書いています。Hopefully, by the end of this trip I will know a lot of the Kansai dialect.
The most important thing I can be doing right now is studying for my Japanese final since that will also help for this trip next semester. If anyone is good at kanji please send help.
Until you hear from me again,
- Wish me luck on finals
- Bless my bank account because oh boy
- And to all a very happy holiday season!
皆さん、バイバイ
Osaka Prefecture
What you see below here is a map of Osaka prefecture, Hirakata (where my University is) is in the North East just below Takatsuki and above Katano. The blue circle on the right is the prefecture flag of Osaka. Much like how in the US we have state flags, the prefectures of Japan all have their own flags. Technically the Osaka flag is just that white symbol against a solid blue background, but I liked this stamp design with the English and the Japanese.
