I have been interested in international interactions and environmental issues, also I was dreaming that I would study abroad when I became a university student since I was a high school student. However, because of the pandemic of Covid-19, I had to give up my dream to study abroad soon after I entered the university. While the pandemic has been stamped out, some of my friends applied for the exchange program when they were in second grade. Meanwhile they went abroad and study so hard in foreign countries, I thought that I will definitely regret that I gave up my dram just because of the Covid. Therefore, I also applied for the exchange program.
There are two aims of studying abroad for me.
Firstly, I want to broaden my perspective. I am now a student of university of Hyogo, and I’m in Global Business course. There are a lot of foreign students and I was studying with them and deepen interaction with them. Nevertheless, I have been in Japan, and interacting with foreigners who have big interests in Japan, so I have only seen the world in the majority side. Since I want to work in the international company, it is very important to experience to stand out in minority’s side. It will help me to become an international person.
Secondly, I want to learn new studies making use of what I studied in university of Hyogo. I have been interested in environmental studies and gender studies, but I have never learned them before. Hence, I want to learn those subjects from economical and management side that I have been studying. Evergreen state college which is my exchange university, has a lot of classes of gender issues and environmental issues. Moreover, there are many students who also have interests in environmental studies and gender studies, also there are many LGBTQ students in the college. It will be a great opportunity for me to study new subjects making use of my knowledge with them under the rich in nature.
There will be many difficult times for me to achieve my aims, but I will do my best in order to make it meaningful.

Soon after I started studying abroad, I was feeling very anxious, starting with abdominal pain that led to an emergency surgery and a joint. However, thanks to the kind people I was surrounded by, I managed to get over it and gradually began to enjoy myself.
However, right after classes started, I could not understand the speed and accent of the local English, and there were days when I did not seem to understand what I was supposed to do for my assignments. I felt I was not good at honestly telling people what I did not understand, but I knew I had to make a move, so I told my friends and teachers what I did not understand. I told my friends and teachers what I didn't understand. Then, people around me taught me everything I didn't understand, and gradually I could keep up with the content of the classes.
I also made many friends, and by the end of the semester, I was able to make friends with everyone in the class and create good memories.

After studying abroad for about 10 months, I feel that I have grown not only in English but also as a person. At first, I was a bit bewildered by the American English I had not heard in a long time, but as a result of participating in classes and activities with friends while working hard, I became able to do most of the listening and also to say what I wanted to say in English. At first, I was too nervous to say anything, but in the U.S., if you don't express your opinion clearly, you may not be taken seriously or it may be considered rude, so at first I resisted, but little by little I started to speak up more clearly. I was also simultaneously engaged in job-hunting activities, and I think I learned a lot about how to use my time.
In terms of my studies, I was very happy that I was able to make use of the business and economics I had studied in Japan. I was able to learn about the history of the Indigenous people in the U.S., which I could only learn in the U.S., and the knowledge necessary to start a business in the U.S. I learned things that will be useful in my future career.
In the future, I would like to work in Japan for 5 to 8 years in Japan and then move overseas. Looking at Japan from outside of Japan, I can see the good and bad aspects of each country. I think Japan is polite and very considerate of others. I also felt in the U.S. that Japanese people have a very strong ability to respect and understand the feelings of others. However, there are many points in which the U.S. is superior. I cannot decide which country is the best, but I would like to learn more about the good qualities of Japan in Japan and then discover a new me, a new culture, and a new sense of values abroad. I still do not know which country I would like to move to, but I would like to visit various countries and move to a place I think is good.