The Importance of Studying Abroad
Ahoy 2021! Happy New Year to all of you, and I hope everyone had a pleasant January 1st. Since I ended 2020 with a blog on a pretty hard topic, I wanted to start of 2021 with something a bit more close to my own heart. Today I’m going to be talking in depth about studying abroad, my own experience, and the undisputable value I believe it adds to a person’s life and views for the better.
I was thinking about this today, just a couple days after right-wing terrorists breached congress in an attempt to subvert our democratic process, how a large number of people in the U.S. have gone their entire lives never setting foot outside their home country. A disturbing statistic that I read recently was that (as of 2018) only 42% of Americans hold passports. That’s right. A majority of U.S. don’t even possess the means to leave the country, and I imagine that many of them lack the motivation to ever do so.
Even among passport holders, I can only imagine what percentage of them have only left the United States once or twice, and probably only for a short vacation or honeymoon. It isn’t enough just to visit a place. To spend a few days frantically trying to fit in as many activities as you can. Gathering around crowded tourist traps, and bouncing between hotels and restaurants and airports so quickly that you miss the forest for the trees. I think one of the best and most important challenges a young person can undertake is the challenge of living in another country. The challenge of leaving the comfort of the nest and exploring the unfamiliar. It is not enough to read or listen or study about the world. It must be experienced.
In 2009, I applied for the study abroad program at the University of Hawaii, where I was an undergrad. I had no expectations or particular predispositions regarding Japan. In fact, I think I was probably one of the least aware of the culture in my entire class. While many of my fellow students were very big fans of things like Japanese anime or manga, I was more of a literature nerd. I had read a lot of Soseki, Mishima, and Dazai, and by my sophomore year at UH I had become quite seduced with their prose and style. Keep in mind that up until this point in my life, I had never left the United States. My parents, too, had only briefly been to Canada on a couple occasions, and I was the first in my family to attend college in a different state than my home of California.
So I got on the plane with about 12 or so other students from Hawaii. It was my first international flight, and I remember it clearly. I think most of us were so excited at this point that we spent the entire trip talking and laughing and becoming friends. To this day, some of the closest and most trusted people I still am in contact with in my life, I met in those first few days of the program. We landed in Kansai, and travelled by bus to the hotel where the students from the other universities had already arrived. In true Hawaii fashion, we arrived last.
The first few days were spent at the hotel getting oriented. I think most of us in the beginning stayed with our own group, which was fine. One of the first and most important things one can do when travelling to a new country is establish a kind of home base. A community that gives you a sense of safety in the familiar. While eventually it is important to shed this layer and move on, I think it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of having that initial safety net.
At the end of our orientation, our host families came to pick us up. I stayed with an older lady who lived by herself up near Takarazuka. It wasn’t my ideal situation, I suppose. Just me and a woman in her 60’s. My Japanese was decent enough at the time, but communicating with her took a lot of time and effort, and as I was 23 and restless, I spent the majority of my time out of the house and either at school or prowling the nightlife in Kobe or Osaka. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. For those who decide to have their first international experience as a student, the host family will undoubtedly play a significant role in forming your opinions on the culture that you are living in. A good host family can give you insight into not only the society you’ve joined, but also into the beliefs you’ve held as sacred for so long in your life.
When you’re young, everything you know is wrong. I know I just said the biggest Boomer comment ever, but it’s damn true. And you know what? Even as you get older and pile on experience after experience, your beliefs and ideals will constantly be challenged and changed. This is natural, and not only that, this is important in developing an identity. There is no shame in being young and dumb, but I would venture to say that there could be no greater insult than meeting someone you haven’t seen in a decade, and having them say to you, “You haven’t changed a bit.”
I’d like to go further into the nitty gritty details, but I think I’ll save that for another blog. The real point I wanted to drive home today was that Study Abroad programs and the Universities that offer them are a dynamic force that spurs change in the minds of the young. They are an invaluable educational resource that should be given much greater priority than they are right now. If you are reading this and have been on the fence about doing a half year or full year in another country, then now is the time to take the plunge. When people ask me what the most definitive year of my life was, my answer is always the same. The 2009-2010 school year that I spent in Hyogo. It built the foundation for every single decision that I made afterwards. So be not afraid, young adventurers.
Fly, and land where you will.
-CA
