Beyond Expectation

In the spring of 2008, I began what I consider to be the greatest journey of my life to date. In late April, a casual interview with my Japanese friend grew into what is my journey to the other side of the world. Though I haven't left Upstate New York yet, my spirit has already found it's place in the Land of the Rising Sun. In May, I visited the Office of International Education to inquire about studying at Kansai Gaidai located in the Kansai region of Japan near Osaka. I met Ms. Danielle Leonard who became my lifeline through the entire application process and supported my decision to step out of my comfort zone--I am an atmospheric science major, after all, so this is quite a step for me--and strive to achieve something that at one point was a mere distant dream of mine.

As spring transitioned into summer, I became more focused on my application. The University at Albany only required a short essay and two reference letters, along with an official transcript. Kansai Gaidai required multiple essays and letters of recommendation. In total, the combined applications amounted to between twenty and thirty pages. I cannot say that I haven't felt completely exhausted at times and even a bit discouraged, but I know that if all goes well, I'll find myself in one of the most fascinating and compelling places on earth in just over four months.

Over the summer, I also took on another job: helping international students adjust to a new life in the United States. I applied to help two students; I ended up becoming involved with more than ten. At the time of the application in early July, I had no idea what I was getting involved in. Since I had no prior experience with helping international students, I had no clue what to expect. I hoped to give each student a good impression of the United States, but I was afraid that there would be many barriers to overcome.

I met Akitomo on August 11th, only hours after I had arrived back in Albany from a trip to Alaska. Needless to say, I was tired and a bit spacey, but I managed to spend three hours talking to him and answering many questions. For the next week, Akitomo experienced life in an American household while he lived with me.

Soon after, I began meeting more international students like Lewis, Joe, Manabu, Ikki, Taka, Naoki and Yan, to name a few. I was pleased with the progress I saw from each of these individuals with every passing day.

It is rewarding beyond words to give help and leave a lasting impact on the lives of these students. In the short month that I have known Akitomo, I have learned more about Japan than I had known in my nearly twenty years of life prior to meeting him. Each student has offered me insight on their sides of the story--looking into the United States from the outside--which is of great interest to me.

It's safe to say that this has been a humbling experience. When you encounter different cultures from a primary source--in this case, the international students--it makes you feel very small. It's like each student is a new chapter to a story, and each has a different perspective. As I explained to Akitomo, just over two months ago, he lived on the east-central coast of Japan, I lived in Upstate New York, and our lives didn't seem destined to cross paths. Now, Akitomo and I are good friends and are learning a great deal from one another. It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around that.

More recently, I have been teaching myself Japanese (Nihongo/日本語) with the help of many friends and, of course, Danielle. It's a hard language to learn as there are two alphabets: Hiragana (平仮名/ひらがな/ヒラガナ), where the vowels A, I, U, E, and O look like あ、い、う、え、お, and Katakana (片仮名/かたかな/カタカナ), where the vowels A, I, U, E, and O look like ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ. There is also Kanji (漢字), which is the use of Chinese characters in the Japanese language. Kanji is hard to learn unless you know the meaning of each character, but I know a very small amount. For instance, the kanji for Japan (Nihon/Nippon) looks like 日本. Japan is officially called Nihon-koku or Nippon-koku, meaning "sun origin country."

I have also started to attend Japanese Student Association (JSA) meetings. I recognize a few faces, but for the most part, I'm meeting new people. Last weekend, I met the Vice President of the JSA, Kazuto, and the President, Shiho. I also saw Emma, whom I consider to be one of the greatest forces behind my decision to study in Japan, for the first time in over three months.

I also met a wonderful and very kind person named Tomoya, who came here from Kansai Gaidai at the beginning of last year. I was recently able to sit down and talk to him a bit about Kansai Gaidai and the Kansai region of Japan, and what it's like to live near Osaka and Kyoto. He grew up outside of Kyoto in a rural area, yet he still lived very close to Japan's second largest metropolis (Osaka-Kyoto-Nara). I also explained to him what it was like to grow up in Albany and how the area has changed so much in the past decade. While the converstation was limited to only an hour, I learned a lot from Tomoya-san, and I'm looking forward to talking to him again. I have a feeling he'll be a huge force in preparing me for life in Japan.

As the semester picks up, I'll be writing more about my ongoing journey and the preparations for my upcoming travels. I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to experience life in such a romanticized country. I also have many anxieties about living halfway across the world. Will I meet many people? Will the language barrier be too great? What if something bad happens while I'm there? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Needless to say, this is one giant leap out of my comfort zone, but in my opinion it's the best way to learn and grow.