Post by zztop on Apr 19, 2018 14:15:22 GMT 9
CIR Hopeful,
Not quite a CIR myself yet (Leaving this July!
), but if you are able to, at your age I’d look into studying abroad in High School or taking a gap year in Japan. (Though if I remember correctly some programs don’t except gap-years for Japan for whatever reason). I understand not everyone is able to, but I’ve found mostly people don’t know these options exist. I was the first ever outbound exchange student at my High School and it took years of begging my family to let me go.
I went to Japan for my Junior year of high school through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program and it was the best decision I ever made. I’ve been back for college but for better or worse it’s a very different experience.
If you can’t do a long term exchange maybe look into going for a summer. There are some semester programs too.
There were difficult times too of course, but never once did I regret going. I am still very close with many of my host families, high school classmates, rotarians, and fellow exchange students.
Some of the programs out there are crazy expensive, but there are scholarships available and with Rotary the only fees I paid were my plane ticket and a very small orientation fee if I remember correctly. If you can’t pay that, I heard some rotary clubs can help you with it as well. They even gave me a $200 allowance per month and I was totally taken care of while I was in Japan. They paid for all my school supplies, school uniform, class trip to Kyushu, etc etc.
I already spoke some basic Japanese from self study and HS classes before I left so your mileage may vary, but I was able to pass N2 of the JLPT by the end of the year. If you are serious about learning Japanese it’s an amazing chance to immerse yourself and make serious improvement.
I majored in Japanese but I most certainly learned more from HS + College study abroad than from college classes and placed into senior classes as a Freshman. Majoring in Japanese led to getting me an all expenses paid scholarship to study at a prestigious Japanese University for a year so I don’t regret it, though in retrospect I wish I had double majored.
You may already know about it, but I thought I’d mention high school exchange since no one else has brought it up. If you have any questions feel free to ask, though I’m sure a lot has changed in the 6 years since I went.
TLDR fondly remembering my SEISYUN as a Shibuya JK
Not quite a CIR myself yet (Leaving this July!
), but if you are able to, at your age I’d look into studying abroad in High School or taking a gap year in Japan. (Though if I remember correctly some programs don’t except gap-years for Japan for whatever reason). I understand not everyone is able to, but I’ve found mostly people don’t know these options exist. I was the first ever outbound exchange student at my High School and it took years of begging my family to let me go.I went to Japan for my Junior year of high school through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program and it was the best decision I ever made. I’ve been back for college but for better or worse it’s a very different experience.
If you can’t do a long term exchange maybe look into going for a summer. There are some semester programs too.
There were difficult times too of course, but never once did I regret going. I am still very close with many of my host families, high school classmates, rotarians, and fellow exchange students.
Some of the programs out there are crazy expensive, but there are scholarships available and with Rotary the only fees I paid were my plane ticket and a very small orientation fee if I remember correctly. If you can’t pay that, I heard some rotary clubs can help you with it as well. They even gave me a $200 allowance per month and I was totally taken care of while I was in Japan. They paid for all my school supplies, school uniform, class trip to Kyushu, etc etc.
I already spoke some basic Japanese from self study and HS classes before I left so your mileage may vary, but I was able to pass N2 of the JLPT by the end of the year. If you are serious about learning Japanese it’s an amazing chance to immerse yourself and make serious improvement.
I majored in Japanese but I most certainly learned more from HS + College study abroad than from college classes and placed into senior classes as a Freshman. Majoring in Japanese led to getting me an all expenses paid scholarship to study at a prestigious Japanese University for a year so I don’t regret it, though in retrospect I wish I had double majored.
You may already know about it, but I thought I’d mention high school exchange since no one else has brought it up. If you have any questions feel free to ask, though I’m sure a lot has changed in the 6 years since I went.
TLDR fondly remembering my SEISYUN as a Shibuya JK
