Jillian's Travel Journals

Jillian

 
What is your traveling philosophy?

Try everything at least once. That way you won't have any regrets once you get home

  • 25 years old
  • From Pennsylvania, United States
  • Currently in Pennsylvania, United States

Tales of a Tall, Blonde Gaijin

From start to end, an in-depth look at the experience of living in Japan through the eyes of an overly enthusiastic American girl. My hope is to make this journal less tourist-y and more sociological [not to mention FILLED with pictures once I get there].

The Birth of a Study Abroad Session

United States Pennsylvania, United States  |  Dec 04, 2008
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 This blog is about my trip experiences, and if we're being honest, my trip experiences started at the end of spring semester 2008. 

EDIT: I've added a paragraph that I completely forgot about the first time around, but isn't large enough to warrant its own entry. It's in bold, for those that have already read this.
Hi. You're most likely wondering why I'm writing an entry about my trip to Japan before I leave the states. This blog is about my trip experiences, and if we're being honest, my trip experiences started at the end of spring semester 2008. I was waiting outside my advisor's office to set up my fall schedule when a poster for a semester in China caught my eye. I had questions about location options, so my advisor pointed me in the direction of the Office of International Programs.

I basically found out that while our school [at the time] didn't have a partner program that offered travel to Japan, if I could find a program on my own they could help me apply. This is important to keep in mind. If you don't see flyers around your campus for a country you'd like to visit, TALK TO YOUR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS OFFICE. There's always a way.



Fast forward through summer, to the start of Fall 2008. I finally decided after three months worth of research into many different programs that Temple University had exactly what I was looking for [mainly location, price and experience].



The next step in starting your travel abroad experience [and this isn't for the faint of heart] is the mountains upon mountains of paperwork, both from your home university and your host university. Some of the forms I had to fill out had to be mailed back to the host university within a week of receiving them. Its quite a lot of hurry up and wait, but as long as you stay on top of things it's not that hard.

Another word of advice to those working on a study abroad experience....Facebook is a great tool. As it stands, I know the names of more than half of the people that will be attending Temple University Japan with me without ever having met them. We've been talking for over a month in the TUJ group on Facebook, planning trips for when we get there and seeing who is living in which dorm. We've also been sharing links and getting to know one another, which really eases that feeling of being completely alone in this hectic phase of the experience.



So in a nutshell, it's been approximately eight months since I first started on my mission of setting up my study abroad experience, and I haven't even left the country yet! The moral of this story is to make sure you have enough time, patience and dedication before jumping in.
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