Reconsiderations on Meiji + Inspiring Quote

Like I may have said in an earlier post, I must keep my options open. Meiji may not be the best option so I must do my research. Although the Meiji Gakuin University program with EAP is geared towards International Relations (my major), the future employers might not care about what program you did, but rather what school I went abroad to. For example, if I did a program in Tokyo University, one of the greatest universities in Japan, it might look more palatable than a school they may have never heard of, despite being geared towards my major. Anyways, I'm busy at work trying to consolidate papers and put all my information into a notebook for studying abroad. I'll end it with a quote from Michelle Obama that I saw in one of the study abroad informational pamphlets.

Excerpt from Michelle Obama's graduation speech at George Washington University, May 2010

"When you serve others abroad, you're serving our country, too. You're showing the world the true face of America - our generosity, our strength, the enduring power of our ideals, the infinite reservoir of our hope. And yes, serving abroad will make you stronger, more competitive, a more valuable asset for a career in the public or private sectors. Just talk to any of your colleagues who have spent some time abroad. And one of the first things they'll tell you, for example, is that you'll never learn a language or develop self-reliance as quickly as you will when you're on your own in a foreign country!"

My motivation to study abroad is as high as ever, and it is required for my major to study abroad for a total of 10 weeks anyway, so this is definitely happening. Most likely in Japan. So I'll be doing either a Fall or Spring program.

Take Time To Decide (394 Days Left)

I was watching more videos and maybe I should keep my options open when deciding on what Study Abroad program to choose. While looking up videos about Meiji Gakuin University, I have also seen videos about Homestays and other schools which look pretty cool as well. I should keep my options open because maybe I might miss out on something special if I immediately choose MGU over others. I think from now I will just try and continue researching and hopefully afterwards I'll come to a more definite conclusion on what I want to do and where I want to go. The main reason I chose MGU first was because it was the most relevant to my major but I don't see that many videos about how the classes are so I'm just sort of curious. I haven't heard anything bad from the program though so that's good. Anyways I'll just do more research and report back it back to you guys later.

24 ~ Abroad in Japan—Japanese Power Rangers Go Snowboarding

This is the video that got me thinking. Among other videos that I was browsing through. If you want to see someone who's blogging his life in Japan from ~October 2011 -> October 2012. Then subscribe to this guy's channel. It's detailed and is really useful and the videos are well made. This guy is at a home-stay and yeah. It just got me thinking about what other possibilities are out there. Most likely I'll only have one Study Abroad experience so I need to make it count.

The Question Is: HOW BENEFICIAL WILL A STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE IN A PROGRAM SPECIALIZING IN MY MAJOR BE?

Meiji Gakuin Exchange Student Interview

-Global Studies Exchange Student Interviews-

Learn more about the International Studies Faculty at Meiji Gakuin University here.

My MGU Research 4 YOU

Here's what I found out about studying abroad in Japan. I quoted my Question and their Answers. All these people are people that I found on YouTube who had videos about the program so click the links and explore their videos.

Q&A

To Ticondy on YouTube

Q: "did you do the spring program (Meiji)? can you tell me more about the program? ty!"
A: "hi! actually I was in the Fall program at Meiji Gakuin. It was unbelievably fun and the buddies from MeiGaku were extremely nice and helpful"
 Note: Ticondy's (The username of the person who submitted the video) videos are very useful. There are some clips that give tours of the Kitchen at the Student Housing (MISH)!


To NaysinJapan on YouTube...
Q: Hey! I watched your video about the sports festival. I want to study abroad in Japan since I will be an International Studies major! How many years did you take Japanese? The program you got into looks like a really great one? what was the program / school u went to / city? IT LOOKS SO FUN >.<
A: I took Japanese for 5 years at school before going over, but it was very very basic classes. My speaking was not very good, but my reading and writing was. But it doesnt really matter, I had a few friends who didnt know any Japanese before they lived over there and they are now almost fluent. I would learn basics before you go, and learn some cultural differences so not to offend people, but nothing big. I went on the Rotary youth exchange program. It is a good program, however you cant chose what town and what school you get. So its a bit risky. It was really fun though. You should do it!! :)
 Note: She apparently deactivated her YouTube. So you probably won't be able to find any of her old videos.


To stinko0man on YouTube...
Q: Hey, I was just browsing YouTube on Study Abroad experiences and I was trying to look for people who went specifically to Meiji University in Yokohama. Your videos popped up and I was just wondering if you stayed at that university. Anyways, I want to study abroad in Japan and I was just wondering about some specifics before you went. How many quarters of Japanese did you take? What was your major? What quarter did you stay? And is there any other insight about the program you could give me? I'm currently finishing my 3rd quarter of Japanese, and I'm giong to take up to 6 quarters before I transfer out of the Community College that I go to. I think I understand it more than I can speak it, I get fragmented when I speak, and also don't know much Kanji yet. Your japanese seems pretty well though, do you have any advice on how to improve my Japanese as well? 
A: Hey there, Thanks for reaching out to me. I did my program through the University of California at Berkeley. I studied Japanese for 3 years prior to going. The program at UC Berkeley is one of the top ten undergraduate studies department in the world and it was very challenging to learn all of that material in such a short amount of time. I learned about 2000 kanji, written and read and could converse with just about anybody after having gone through the program. Depending on how much you have prepared you could definitely get by with less Japanese than what I studied. Japan runs on semesters (just like UC Berkeley) and I was there for the fall 2007 semester. As far as the program goes, it was immersed in Japanese language with some supplemental classes in English. I was expected to take economics and math classes entirely in Japanese but my work was completed in English. It can be a daunting task for those who are not prepared but Meiji does offer some all English classes depending on what program you're accepted in. To improve your Japanese you need to practice every single day. Memorize as many kanji as you can and learn them well, this will help you read and understand many signs that appear throughout the country.
Best of Luck!
~C

 To shysuke on YouTube...

Q: Hi! I just saw your videos... or at least the first two... of your Japan Study Abroad program. IT seems like you did two programs or something, I guess because it totaled up to a year. Anyways what program(s) did you do? I'm planning on doing Meiji Gakuin University program. 

A: I did a 6 week language course and then 1 year (2 semester) course at Keio that was offered though study abroad at my home university. I have friends who went to Meiji and I haven't heard anything negative about it! 

Q: Do you have any information or advice for me for doing the Meiji Gakuin University program? I'm 6'4" too. Will that be a problem? How competitve is the application process? +any other advice :) 

A: not really concrete advice, but just have fun with it! I don't really know how your university does applications but Berkeley seemed to approve everyone who applied for study abroad to do so. We had to choose our top 3 schools out of the schools offered for study abroad and luckily I got into my top choice but everyone I know liked the schools they went to. The kind of courses offered at universities really differs so just make sure that Meiji has the type of courses you are looking for. Try to apply for the JASSO scholarship from the Japanese govt too cuz that will really help and its not that hard to get. 

Being 6'4" will make it tougher to buy clothes and shoes but they do have stores that carry 'bigger' men's clothes (or specialty shoe stores) but make sure you pack plenty of clothes that will fit your bigger stature since everyone is friggin tiny there! (I'm a 5'10" girl so it was like near impossible to find average clothes there that fit me). They do have H&M and Forever21 Men's that will have sizes that should run a bit bigger than the standard 'one-size' that they sell at normal Japanese stores. Watch out, cuz those Japanese girls will probably be falling over for you, lol. 

Additional Videos (Note: Look at the user accounts of these videos too!)

1.  Meiji Gakuin UC Study Abroad Program/ (SMART) - A video interviewing a few people who studied abroad at MGU.
2. Video Blog 1- 5 Things that she liked about MGU + the single-room dorms at MISH.
3. meiji school - A tour of the MGU campus and a conversation with some MGU students. Check out the rest of his videos for more.

PDF MGU Program Guide

MGU Program Guide - This link is the program guide for the 2012 program. I personally am doing the 2013 program so while it's not perfectly relevant, it's still got the basic ideas down.

PRE-BLOG: How I Decided on My Program (408 Days Left)

The Idea. I think the whole idea of wanting to study abroad arose during my second year of college at Foothill. During my second year I was switching back and forth through interesting majors such as History, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Humanities and International Studies. Guess which one struck my interest? That's right! International Studies! I thought it was the perfect combination of having a major with a broad spectrum of possibilities as well as having the possibility of traveling and seeing different cultures and types of people around the world. When I mean many possibilities, I'm talkin' ECON! or BUSINESS! or POLI SCI or LAW. Having decided on this major, and having already been determined to get into a University of California (UC), as well as having NEVER traveled internationally before, I wanted to try to get into and begin researching different Study Abroad programs. Having an interest in Japanese culture, I started learning the language (which is also a requirement for the major) and so it only made sense for me to find a program in Japan.


The Research. So, having decided to pursue an International Studies major as well as interest in Japan, my next step was the research. Since I was also determined to get into a UC (Note: This past Nov. I applied to UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD, UCR) I decided to go campus website to campus website finding different possibilities for studying abroad at each school. I found a program for studying abroad that the whole UC system used called EAP (Education Abroad Program). Knowing that I could do one of these programs regardless of where I got in, I decided on EAP. Next, I had to find which specific school/program I wanted to apply and try to get into.


The Plan. Looking through Japan and reading all the descriptions, locations, requirements, expectations etc. I decided on a special looking school/program called Global & International Studies, Meiji Gakuin Univ.. This program looked PERFECT for me!!! It was in Japan, it was conveniently located in Japan's second largest city, and it had in it's title "INTERNATIONAL STUDIES" which was directly relevant to my major. Though the requirements are a little more steep than other programs (3.0 minimum GPA requirement) and it's odd timing than the usual summer program(Spring/Fall only) I still wanted to do this. My plan was to take the Spring program during the 1st year after I transfer to a 4-year college. As of February 2012, I have 4 quarters of Japanese under my belt as well as the 5th quarter in progress and 6th quarter coming this Spring! I will definitely need to brush up on my Japanese because the course that I'm taking at Foothill is mostly grammar based and doesn't put much emphasis on Kanji or Vocabulary (Basically, you can get an A if you know almost only grammar). It's a good class though. The class structure makes it so that you'll get the grade you want simply, but if you really want to learn the language, you need further research. The plan is to go during Spring 2013. I only hope nothing goes wrong such as another Japanese Disaster that prevents this from happening (*Knock on wood*) not to mention the alleged "End of the World" during December 2012 (haha).


There are a ton of things to do in preparation for the study abroad program such as the application, getting my passport, and many other requirements that I have not even found out yet -- but after all, I have 1 year 2 months to work on it... or 58 weeks... or about 408 days... but I digress. For now I will work on my Japanese, as well as all things academic so that I can get into the best possible school! I will of course continue my research, and maybe I'll post more about the preparation process as the time goes by. But that's it! This is step 1 in GOING ABROAD.

(PS: I promise these next posts won't be as stale and "professional" toned as this one in the future =))