After my sophomore year at Clemson University, I had the opportunity to study abroad for both the Summer 2023 semester and the Fall 2023 semester. During the summer, I attended a Clemson program led by the Japanese professors. For the first ten days, we toured various prefectures of Japan and learned more about the culture. Then, we spent a month studying at Kansai Daigaku. After the end of my time at Kansai Daigaku, I briefly returned to America before flying back to Japan and starting my full-length semester at Meiji Gakuin University in Yokohama. Despite the differences in lengths of the two programs, both taught me different skills and I value them equally.

My first experience abroad was with the help of two of Clemson University’s Japanese professors. As someone who had never flown except a single round trip at the age of six, I was extremely nervous to be traveling to a foreign country. Being able to rely on my professors helped me get my footing and build confidence before I went out on my own. For the first ten days of the program, we traveled as a group. Every couple of days, we packed out things and took a Shinkansen to a new, exciting prefecture. We started our trip in the old capital of Japan, Kyoto. There, we had the opportunity to engage in cultural activities such as visiting Fushimi Inari while wearing Kimono, praying at shrines, getting fortunes, and learning how to navigate a train station. After that, we moved on to (finish later).

After the initial ten days of traveling, we settled in to the dorms at Kansai Daigaku. After being able to rely on others in my group who were much better at Japanese than I was, I was suddenly on my own in a dorm group with no English speakers. Within the first few hours of moving in, I heard a knock at my door. It was my dormmate, Mana, who came to introduce herself and welcome me in. Mana was from Mainland China, but was fluent in Japanese. This meant that our one shared language was Japanese, and I had no choice but to communicate in Japanese. At first, I stumbled through sentences. However, she was always very patient with me and eventually I was able to hold conversations for hours at a time.

After a brief return to my home state, I returned to Japan. This time, I was much more prepared. I navigated customs by myself for the first time, and was able to offer some advice to friends who were in Japan for the first time. Unlike my summer semester, we settled in to the dorms and school rhythm immediately.

When I first arrived to my Japanese class at Meiji Gakuin University, I had some concerns. I read on the syllabus that that particular class was recommended for people with at least 6 semesters of college-level Japanese classes, and at the time I only had 2 semesters plus the short experience at Kansai Daigaku. I told my professor, Shimizu sensei, that I wasn’t sure I was good enough to be in that class. She encouraged me to try for a week or so, and then if I still felt like I should drop down a level then I could do that. After a week, I decided that even if it was a challenge, I was going to try my best to stay in that level. I owe a lot of my progress to my professors, who always made sure I understood the lessons and were patient with me when I struggled to express my thoughts properly. Within my class, there was a roughly even split of American students and Chinese students. Once again, our common language was Japanese, so when communicating with the Chinese students I had to use Japanese. Additionally, we were not allowed to speak in our native languages during class times. This meant that even with people from my own home country, we had to step outside our comfort zones and speak in Japanese. At the end of the semester, I handwrote both my Japanese professors notes expressing my gratitude for helping me step out of my comfort zone.