My main reason for wanting to study in Japan is so that I can improve my Japanese conversation skills and learn how to better communicate with native Japanese speakers. I have always struggled with speaking a foreign language, so my main focus while I am at MWU would be to improve my Japanese speaking skills as much as possible. Since there is no way to avoid using Japanese while living in Japan, I think that this experience will create many opportunities for me to get better at communication. Another skill that I hope to cultivate is the ability to navigate living in a foreign country without my friends or family. I aspire to be an English teacher abroad, so having experience living in another country where I am not fluent in the language or where I don't have the normal support of my friends and family will push me to adapt and rise to every challenge that I face. Along with learning as much as possible about the Japanese language, I also want to learn a lot about the culture and history of Nishinomiya and Japan as a whole. I hope to take as many Japanese culture and history classes as possible In order to better understand the country that I would be living in. I am also very excited to experience many new things about Japanese culture. Japanese food, the tea ceremony, and Shinto shrines are just some of the things that I look forward to the most. And of course I want to try and experience these things with the friends that I make at MWU. I want to join any clubs that I can in order to meet as many people as possible and to create happy, fun memories with the people I meet. I may already have a couple friends that attend MWU, but I hope to make many more who will want to show me their favorite things about Nishinomiya and the cities surrounding it. Overall I want to learn a lot of Japanese, meet many people, and see many sites in Japan.

It’s already been 5 months since I’ve come to Nishinomiya, Japan. It has been an absolutely amazing experience and I was able to grow so much in this time. Before I came here, I really wondered how much better my Japanese would actually get. I was worried that it would not progress as much as I hoped it would. But now, after living here for 5 months, I am happy to say that my Japanese language skills have improved even more than I was hoping they would. My listening skills have improved the most out of everything, but also my writing and reading as well. These increases are due mostly to the Japanese friends that I have here. The Japanese classes that I’ve been taking were a big help, but since I would also use Japanese with my friends outside of class, I think that is what really tipped the scale in helping me get significantly better in Japanese.
I also just loved all of the amazing and convenient things that Japan has to offer. From the コンビニ to all of the shopping and the nature, Japan was full of beautiful new things I got to explore.
My time spent here also allowed me to meet and make more friends from not only Japan, but other countries as well. I have become great friends with my classmates, and I hope one day we can all meet each other again here in Japan (or even in one of our home countries). They have taught me so much about their country that I have never had the opportunity to learn before.
Because I had planned to move to Japan and pursue an education career here, this experience was significantly important in determining whether or not I could actually live and flourish in this country. Now, after 5 months, I can positively say that I can 100% do that. Because I have seen what it is like living here, it will make the move much less scary and even more exciting than before. I can’t wait to come back here.