Chuo University: 2014 - 2015
This section includes a personal reflection about my year studying abroad.
I learned a lot about myself and about Japanese language and culture during my time studying abroad. In many ways, it was simultaneously the best and worst year of my life. I became depressed. I lost touch with myself and with my friends. I became disenchanted with my major. But I also learned that I have a deep well of inner strength, and that I am capable of a lot more than I once thought.
Putting life lessons aside, I never thought I would come out the other side of this experience with as much knowledge as I did. I made incredible strides in my speaking ability. Though it is still the skill I struggle with the most, I know that I improved by leaps and bounds by living in Japan and challenging myself to speak Japanese. I became better at reading and writing while I was at it, but I had always had less trouble with those things than with listening and speaking. I was able to improve everything mostly just through social interactions. My class attendance was not conducive to learning anything new, and I was placed in very low level Japanese classes that were not appropriate in any case. I ended up gaining a lot of experience by spending a weekend with my friend's family (none of them spoke English). I also spent a lot of time going out with friends and challenging myself to speak only in Japanese for the night. Other interactions with waiters, store clerks, my friends, and the general public taught me a lot. I had one particularly scary experience that could have turned out very bad for me if I had been unable to speak to someone accurately in Japanese. That moment stands out as a time I was able to prove to myself that I had grown and improved my Japanese. I also gained a lot of new cultural knowledge, and saw many different sides of Japan. For the most part, it was as I had expected. I know from my experiences traveling with family and living all over the United States that most places are pretty much the same. There are things that are ubiquitous regardless of where you are. In a number of ways, Japan is very much like the United States. It is a capitalistic society and that is heavily reflected in the common culture. There are clearly deeper roots in history that have changed the way Japan has developed and the way it is visually represented even today. I noticed while I was there that people were far less interested in social issues than most of the people I interact with in the United States are, which was always something of a problem for me while I was there. I am intensely involved in social issues, and I found their disinterest, or indifference, alarming. That was something one of my Japanese friends complained about often, actually, and she often expressed interest in moving elsewhere because of this. There were, of course, anomalies, and I found them. I had a group of friends outside of my dorm that was very involved in social issues, but they expressed to me that they were a minority in Japan. That same group of friends was part of a major subculture of artists and creative people in general in Japan. They showed me that aspect of Japanese society, and how it intersects and diverges from America's creative scenes. Other sections of the population showed me other things in much the same way. The party scene, the bar environment, how people behaved in the streets and trains and restaurants. The malls, the scenery, the historical sites. Everything gave me something new, and helped me understand what makes Japan what it is today. I would never have understood any of this, nor gained the language skills I did, if I hadn't gone to Japan. Though I had several of the worst experiences of my life while there, I don't regret it. It's much the same as the rest of my college experience: peppered with staggering, profound lows and soaring highs. It is an irreplaceable part of me and my life. |