"You Spent a Year in Japan??" Yes, and It Was Worth It! Past Review
By Audrey M (Japanese Language and Literature, Wellesley College) for
Associated Kyoto Program: Kyoto - Doshisha University
I had to most amazing year in Japan and this program definitely contributed to my experience. By learning more about Japan's people and culture has given me a better understanding of how to interact with different cultures. Also my time away has helped me mature as a person and I am looking forward to applying everything I have learned to not only the remainder of my academic life but my future as well.
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The class sizes were small, allowing for more attention from our professors and the Japanese teachers were not only from the area but were also specially associated with the program. Our cultural classes were taught by American professors from school like Amherst College, Smith College, and Williams College who all specialized in Asian Studies. I feel like I gained a lot of knowledge from both my language course and cultural courses that I could apply to my daily life in Kyoto. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The AKP staff is SO kind and hard-working. I could tell everyday they were working to make sure everything would be okay for us, but they always had time to say hello if we ever stopped by their office. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
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| * Food: |
I think just being open to different foods is very important. There were dishes I would have never tried in America that I found to be some of my favorite foods. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The festivals held at my university were fun and exciting. I was also able to travel to places like Hiroshima and Miyajima with my program. Our programs always tried to incorporate trips that would prove to be both a cultural and educational experience. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Japan is a fairly safe place to be, especially in comparison to other countries. My program did equip us with useful information just in case we were ever in an emergency. Also, our program took extremely good care of us after the natural disasters that occurred in Japan. Even though I was no where near the affected areas, it was still comforting to know that they had an emergency plan in the event that we had to come home immediately. Fortunately, there was no need to end our program early, and I had a wonderful time. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I feel like the best advice I can give is to just monitor your spending, especially since Japan is an expensive country. Fortunately the program did cover many areas of spending for us, but monitoring your personal spending is always the best thing to do. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
Since I lived with a host family, I practiced Japanese daily with them, and many of my friends were still learning English as their second language so most of our conversations were in Japanese. I did have friends who were more proficient in English so I was able to converse with them as well. Also, since English is not the primary language of Japan, most of my daily activities involved me speaking in Japanese. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program may not be for someone who wants to be completely independent in a foreign country. However for anyone else who is interested, this is such an amazing program & just take advantage of your time in the country. Try to resist the familiar, as our director told us during orientation, and be opening to trying new things. One year isn't as long as you would think, so just enjoy every day that you are there! |
