Japan Withdrawals

What can I say?  I've been home from Japan for over six months already, and I still think about my experience abroad EVERY day.  Yes, I'm glad that I was able to reunite with my dogs (and friends and family, too, of course) but I'm ready for Round 2 now!

Six weeks in Japan wasn't long enough for me, and the words of a wise American English teacher that I met early on in my trip constantly rings through my ears.  He asked us why we applied to be American counselors at summer camps, and I said that I wanted to potentially work in Japan for a couple years after finishing college, and this was a good short term summer job for me to get my feet wet before diving into the pool.

He said to be careful because the two year plan quickly turns into nine.  Obviously, he was talking from his own experience.  And maybe my goal isn't to teach English for a decade, but to have the experience of becoming a citizen in the country of my choice and being able to function like a normal person (communication, writing, etc) has always been a dream of mine.

I know that I'll have to leave my dogs (and friends and family) for extended periods of time, but this is MY story.  My goal.  My "television drama," if you will.  I'm the main character in this story, and I have to go where my life takes me.

Take care,

Adam
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The Fast Path Vs. The Fun Route

After having a long conversation with my dad in our hot tub a few nights ago, I started to reevaluate everything that I'm doing with my life right now.  I'm going to school for Visual Communications, and I'm planning on transferring to a university and continuing towards a Bachelor's degree.

However, I'm already having trouble finding time to study Japanese while attending school.  I'm not going to become fluent on my own.  If I would have, I'd almost be there already, and the only other option would be to drop everything and study Japanese full-time.  This wouldn't be for credit, and I'd probably be considered a bum by my peers.

My endgame is being able to move to Japan after finishing school.  So I have the fast path: continue down my current field and get to Japan in a few years.  Or... I could change my field of study to Japanese and Business, which was actually my plan in high school...  If I did this, school wouldn't get in the way of studying Japanese because I would be doing school work by doing my passion.  It would also make my study abroad trip more worthwhile when that finally happens.

On the other side, if I choose to major in Japanese, it would require me to move, possibly to Arizona or somewhere else outside of the midwest.  I'm looking at it as my first test.  If I can handle being away from my family for a semester at a time, then studying abroad and even moving overseas won't be a problem.

Either way, I have a lot of decisions to make, and I don't want to just settle for the field that I'm in right now.  I'm too young to say "Oh, I wasted enough time already, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and not be happy with it."  I need to do what makes me happy, and learning about Japan and its language has been my passion for years.

Until next time,

Adam
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