Japan has been a country of interest for me since I was in middle school and I had always wanted to learn the language. So when I entered college, I decided to finally study Japanese. Because I enjoyed studying Japanese at my home university, I felt motivated to study abroad in Japan. Before going to Japan, I contacted a Nanzan student that was my partner for one of the COIL projects that we did at my home university. I got to know her by contacting through Instagram and Line. I think it is meaningful to know some local students before studying abroad. From my experience, it was comforting and stress-relieving to know that I had friends in Japan before arriving to the country. They were also very helpful when I needed help getting around the city.

Whenever I felt stress from school work or other daily things my emotional support activity was walking to 7/11 and buy a few snacks or go to the balcony of my dorm room to get fresh air.(This is my favorite photo that I took from the balcony of my dorm. I often took pictures of the sunset from the balcony)

My favorite thing that I did during my study abroad in Japan was getting to see the Sakura trees. Because it was the thing I looked forward to the most before going to Japan, I feel like I was able to really enjoy it. I also really enjoyed going to festivals and doing hanami with my friends.