Student Essay
Each student has a unique and individual experience on their Experiment program. The following essay is a single glimpse into a program from one student's perspective.
Angela Chang -- Japan (JLN)
It has been almost two months since the first day I embarked on my adventure to Japan. I remember the first night I came home and how I felt that everything was a dream. I walked into my room and felt as if I had never left. But, during the next week, I received calls and emails from my experiment family and experienced the Experiment once more.
It's still overwhelming to think back on what we did because our home-stay week was very full. We canoed, went to a hot spring, played park golf, attended Japanese schools, tried kitsuke, attended a tea ceremony, made key chains, tried many different foods, and so much more. Our week was surreal and passed by so quickly that it didn’t seem a day had passed when we had to leave for Sapporo. However, we established family bonds with our hosts and I will try my best to make mine stronger.
Yoyogi was a dream come true. We had two weeks to "taste" anime school, but I feel as though I fulfilled a life-long dream. I will not be an animator any time soon, so I am extremely grateful to have gotten the chance to try animating. Our instructors were wonderful and allowed us to develop however we wanted. We were also told how japanimation is produced. After learning how painstaking the process is, I have developed a new respect for the artists. I hope that I might join them in the future.
What else did we do? We had language classes in the morning. Again, our instructors were very patient and adjusted lessons according to our varying levels. They made it more than a regular class by teaching us games and songs as we learned. I am also very grateful for these cultural lessons (which I have also been sharing with kids at home).
In addition to the time with my Experiment family, I also deeply enjoyed the time with our language partners. They didn’t treat us like kids and we didn’t treat them like chaperones. Always eager and friendly, they shared their daily lives with us. Even though there was a language barrier, I felt that they really became ‘one of us’ and that made the experience all the more memorable.
We left Sapporo to spend our last few days in Tokyo. During that time, we moaned about how we didn’t want to leave and that we "wished we could stay forever!" Now that I think back, I would take that statement back. I am glad to have left because now I have a wonderful memory to turn back to and a new goal to work towards: to return with everybody some day.
With Deep Thanks,
Angela C.
PROGRAM FEATURES:
Language Training, The Arts
DURATION:
4 weeks
PREREQUISITE:
1 year Japanese
DATES:
June 28, 2010 -
July 27, 2010
FEE:
$6,400
*
*(International airfare included)
DEPART / RETURN:
Los Angeles
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