Mike in Sendai

The Joy of Studying Abroad

Studying abroad is an amazing and rewarding experience no matter where you go. This realization has come not only from my own experience studying in Sendai, Japan but also from speaking with my friends and classmates who have also studied abroad. It’s a connection you share with other people who have studied abroad; one that lets you look across the table at them and immediately understand their own experiences as a foreigner. As a study abroad ambassador I felt an immediate bond with other study abroad returnees and a shared enthusiasm for travel. But, even though you may have shared experiences on some level, no one shares what you’ve gone through quite like the people youactuallystudied abroad with.

That’s me on the right with the white shirt.

My first day in Sendai was, to be quite honest, depressing. It was rainy, I didn’t know where anything was and combined with the anxiety of living in a country where I didn’t speak the language well and couldn’t function as an adult had me pretty sad. Above all, though, I was alone with no support group.

The next day a volunteer group for international students was to chauffeur us around the city. The goal was to not only get us acquainted with our new home but to also help us open bank accounts, register as foreigners, and to sign up for cell phones. To this day I believe it was the best thing that happened to me as an exchange student in Japan.

I woke up and headed down to the lobby where we were all supposed to meet, checked-in, and stood around waiting to leave. Everyone else, however, was talking and having a good time. I wondered how this could be possible given most of us arrived only the night before. I spotted someone who was just standing around like me and decided to step a little outside of my comfort zone and strike up a conversation. That person was Dan, the guy in red in the back in the above picture, and he became one of my best friends during my time in Sendai.

Many more friends were made this way; I met Phillip, another great friend, just by sitting next to him on the bus. Within the first day I had met ten or so new people, providing me the support base and company I needed. Studying abroad allowed us, who may have never had the opportunity to meet, to form strong bonds simply because we were having a shared experience. Our tight-knit group was stitched together with our shared struggles of living a new and alien life and provided us with something familiar to all of us in an unfamiliar land: friendship.

Christmas feast with some of the friends I made, plus brother and his fiancee!

I made many wonderful friends who, admittedly, would probably not be as close had we not studied abroad together. Even though I may never get to visit some of them in their respective countries it is always fun to catch-up and reminisce when possible. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit two of them in California which made my summer. Unfortunately, good times have to end, and with such great friends it makes it hard to say goodbye. In my case, it was even worse because I had to leave Japan so abruptly which didn’t allow me to properly say goodbye to many of my friends. I wasn’t supposed to say goodbye for another five months but circumstances (earthquake) prevented me from doing so.

Regardless, don’t let that deter you from making good friends. I don’t regret any of it and would do it all again. It’s a camaraderie I’ve found nowhere else but in team sports. They’re a close group of friends I can always relate to, and some of the few people who understand my experiences.

I’m graduating!

OK so it wasn’t that much of a surprise, but getting the email from my adviser saying I am officially cleared to graduate was a wonderful feeling. Graduation is this Saturday and after that I’m moving back to Ohio. Then it’s only 4 months (!!) until I move to Japan.

End of the Semester

In a week and a half is the culmination of my academic career for the past 16 years. Between now and then I have to finish two projects and a five page essay, so it certainly won’t be a breeze. At the same time I can’t help but feel care-free and ready to move on to the next stage in my life.

I’ve loved being a Boilermaker and will truly miss all of my friends. Graduating Purdue and then going to graduate school in Japan certainly feels like I’m opening a new chapter in my life. I feel sad but at the same time very satisfied and ready. It really hasn’t hit me yet, but I’m sure right around finals week, or maybe not until I walk at graduation, it will hit me like a ton of bricks. The thing that will hit me the hardest, I think, will be the realization that I will be leaving my friends behind, some of whom I have known since elementary school.

They’ve been some of the most wonderful people in my life. I can’t believe I was so lucky to make such an awesome group of friends. It won’t be easy saying goodbye, but we’ll all keep in touch  one way or another, and just like when I studied abroad I’m sure making new friends will come fast and easy.

Official Acceptance

So it’s official. I will be attending Tohoku University as a Master’s Course student starting in October 2012. I emailed a copy of my acceptance form and just earlier today I received an email saying my hard copy arrived.

It’s actually not unlike the feeling I had when I first found out two years ago I would be studying in Japan. I also found out around late February and would have to wait until October. It’s actually kind of nostalgic. The only difference is I will know what to expect now so hopefully I’m a bit wiser.

I’m really excited to reconnect with some friends. At the same time it also means I will have to leave all of my good friends here. Many of us have been together ever since middle school. Next year we will all be in different places either in Graduate school or in the real world starting careers.

Right now, it’s just something I can’t comprehend. Graduation is in two months (!) and even then I still have to wait another four months before I leave for Japan. It’s something I can’t imagine is actually going to happen because it is so far away. I’m just excited that my future is no longer uncertain and I will be returning to Japan.

IGPAS Exam Results

Around 10pm on January 31st I got an email from IGPAS notifying me that the results had been posted. It came rather sudden to me since I was in the middle of making food. I was so excited I couldn’t click the link, instead returning to my food as I wondered whether I had passed or not. I could barely contain myself and was almost trembling, barely able to hold it in any longer. I burst at the seams, giving in to the temptation as I let my food burn a little longer on the stove.

I logged in and there it was in front of me. A list of application numbers. We were all given one, and those that were listed were those that passed. And I didn’t see my number. I couldn’t believe it. My heart sank as I returned to the stove, pondering what went wrong.

But then I realized something about the format of the numbers. Could it be I was thinking of another number they gave us, one for the examination? I raced back, scanning over the numbers again. My eyes caught a number that seemed very familiar. I quickly went back through my old emails with the IGPAS division to find the email that told me my application number. There it was. It matched the one on the website.

It is official, I have been accepted into the IGPAS program! Unfortunately I wasn’t awarded the MEXT scholarship so I’ll have to find funding elsewhere. I’m so excited I can barely wait for the semester to end. There’s still much to do, but the worst is over!

Biking in Japan

Biking in Japan was a pretty unique experience for me. Here in America I survive by car but in Japan I, along with most of my other friends, survived by bike. At around 8-9am in my part of Sendai the roads were swarmed by students on their bikes going to class. Avoiding cars was only a suggestion since, in reality, they avoided us. We all generally followed the same winding path through and around traffic and down a fairly steep hill where everyone kicked back and let gravity do the work for them. It then evened out to a bridge over a river right before you hit campus. Going down that hill you were always on the border between excitement and charred flesh from being dragged across the ground like a rag doll. In fact, one of my good friends managed to flip over her bike and scrape her teeth down to the root against the road.

So since it could be fairly dangerous with so many people there were some pretty heavy ground rules we were expected to follow. The most important was riding on the left side of the road. Now, during the rush hours of bike traffic, morning and evening, sometimes this would get convoluted and people would precariously weave in and out of each other. On what particular morning there was a pretty heavy mob of high school girls biking against our wave of Touhoku Dai students. I remember it very vividly, as there was a student biking alongside me on my right and another on my left. In front of me there were two more students. And, almost as if waves parting in front of me, the two students split, revealing two high school girls biking straight toward me.

It was one of those moments where you knew exactly what was going to happen. All I hoped for was that it didn’t hurt too bad. We both saw it coming and didn’t even react.

When we collided it was surprisingly smooth for me. It was like a hard stop and I was still standing. She, unfortunately, had fallen to the ground on her bike. I felt terrible and apologized profusely and, in natural polite fashion, she kept saying she was fine. She seemed OK and I couldn’t see any cuts or bruises, so we went on our way as if nothing happened. It wasn’t until later I noticed I had a fairly deep gash in my knuckle.

It was quite embarrassing and I was just thankful she was OK, mainly because I would have felt even worse if she was injured. At least I can say I was biking on the correct side of the road that day :)