My time here has been filled with new friends, fresh experiences, and the exhilaration of learning. Nothing beats, or is harder than, living in another country. I know anyone who has immigrated somewhere is feeling me on that. Every day is a new challenge of fitting into this culture, learning the language, or gaining a peek into the “real Japan.”

After arriving in October 2006, I started an intensive Japanese language program at Tokyo Gakugei University. My intermediate class was only 4 people: one Icelandic, one Irish, and one Japanese-Brazilian. We studies our butts off (and had some fun times too!), and I got my “diploma” from that short program in March. Now, I’ve transferred schools to start my M.A. in Public Policy/Globalization Studies. I usuallyd drink a quick cup of green tea in the morning before starting off to catch the train to school. I see the older women sweeping the street in front of their houses, the cute kids marching to school with their huge leather backpacks, and the salarymen (already exhausted) sprinting to their connecting train. Cherry blossom season just finished, and the country is blanketed in petals, like pink snow. I love it here!!! All the little charms of the culture, history, kindness of the people, and beauty of the landscape. I am thinking fondly of all you TAAPistas, miss you, and definitely, definitely urge you to study abroad while you have the chance!

Oh by the way, are you asking how I got myself here? Through Cal, of course!! A transfer student, as soon as I showed up on campus I went to the EAP office in Stephens Hall and said I wanted to study in Japan. By the next semester, I was participating in the Global Security and Development Studies program at Meiji Gakuin University. On that program, I met the professor who would become my mentor, traveled all around Japan doing research, met members of my family I never knew existed, and just lived, breathed, and slept JAPAN. Now, 8 years later, I applied for a Japanese government full scholarship to get my MA at the same university I attended as a Cal junior. They accepted my application, and here I am. Moral of the story: filling out papers is definitely worth the trouble!!!