GUESS WHO'S APPLYING TO STUDY ABROAD AGAIN

I'm applying to study abroad again! This time it's at a university. The application process has been a bit of a mess but things are looking good now. Going to revamp the blog for this new adventure of mine.

I stopped writing on this blog because it was getting too difficult to write in English, which is something that apparently happens when you learn a second language, but with all the writing I do for college my writing skills have come back! It's blog time! There are some draft posts from when I was in Japan that I need to finish and get posted and then it's time for my experiences since then and my journey to studying abroad again.

Okay. Time to go back to dying from all the college stuff. See you soon! 😘

Where To Find Pictures!

I'm taking a fair amount of pictures on my trip and those are being uploaded to the Azuki Ice Cream Facebook page. So far most of the pictures are of the nearby river but I hope to do some walking today so more pictures to come 😄.

Teaser picture 😜

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

I received my official acceptance letter from Ojiya Study Abroad a week and a half ago and after looking at a bunch of flight options we picked flights and bought the tickets this morning! My flights are a little weird but the timings should work fairly well. The reason I say my flights are a little weird is because I will be flying through four different airports and on three different airlines. My flights will be from my local airport to LA for a day or two and then a flight to Haneda Airport and then on the way back I will fly out of Narita Airport to my local airport. Probably sounds pretty convoluted but it should work pretty well.

So here's a little story: as my dad and I were buying the tickets to and from Japan we were able to select a seat. My dad recommended a window seat for the long flight so we ended up picking the seat 37A. I like this seat because it is both a window seat and the row number is a prime number (scientists love prime numbers for some reason). As we were booking the second flight we saw we could select a seat again. More were available this time so my dad was asking me what part of the plane I wanted to be in. However, I happened to notice something: seat 37A was available on this flight too. We selected that seat and I am very happy about the fact that I'm in seat 37A on both my 12 hour flights. I am a simple person 😁

Application Process (Almost) Complete!

Nearly two months ago I was waiting for my physics class to start and to pass the time I was looking at the bulletin board near the door to my classroom and noticed a poster for a study abroad program. The program was something outside of school so it was different than your average exchange. The program was for studying either Japanese language or culture in a small city called Ojiya. I tore off one of the slips of paper with the information on it and put it in my pocket before heading to class. A couple days later I pulled out the slip and checked out the website. It looked perfect.

After thinking for a couple days I approached my mom and told her about the program and sent her the website. She looked at it and sent the website to my uncle while I was at school and she was very supportive of the idea by the time I got home in the evening. She said I would be expected to work in community while in Japan and pay for part of my tuition, both which I am more than happy to do.

The application required that you have a passport that was valid for at least six months after you complete the program and my passport would not last that long so I looked up all the regulations and was able to apply for a new passport the next day. I got up the courage to email the program asking to reserve a spot while I was waiting to get my passport back and I was told to start the application and worry about the passport later. This blog was started around that time too. Over the next month I filled out the application form, answered some questions, met with a student from the program, and asked my teachers for references. My Japanese teacher sent my reference on Friday so I have now officially completed the application process. I don't even know how to thank my teacher enough. She wrote me a very nice reference.

I was accepted to the program and asked to come to Japan soon. All that's left is passport information and picking flights (and probably a million other things but for now those are the two main things). The last email I received was actually completely in Japanese. I couldn't really understand all of it so I asked my aunt and uncle to help me translate it and they did translate it for me but also pointed out it was easy Japanese (hiragana and a couple simple kanji, easy phrases). Now I have to go translate it myself too just to save my pride a bit XD.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend the program and will most likely be spending part of the summer in Japan.

PSA: There is a Facebook Page!

Just a little public service announcement to say that Azuki Ice Cream now has a Facebook page! Still somewhat under construction but you can go have fun and do facebooky things over there if you would like.

Welcome to Azuki Ice Cream!

I have wanted to go to Japan pretty much my whole life. My mom has always talked about going to visit her brother who lived in Japan for a couple years after college and hearing about that coupled with the amount of Japanese stuff in my life between my uncle who lived in Japan, my aunt who is Japanese, my cousin who taught English there for three years, and my nerdiness lead me to be more interested in the culture. Now that I'm in college there is the possibility of studying abroad so I started actually preparing for that to happen, whenever that would be. As someone who has chronic problems with starting things, something as huge as going to a different country would probably be impossible to start, but I have a trick! Do small things. Lots and lots and eventually they add up. This blog will outline the various small steps I have taken and will be taking, so stay tuned for what I have done and will be doing to work towards my goal!

Work hard dream hard, folks! 

Juno