I remember first hearing about SJMC’s study abroad programs, and I remember thinking to myself, “that would be fun, but my parents would never agree to it,” so I never even brought it up to them.
Eventually, I realized, what would be the harm in asking? So, I sent them a picture of the flyer that my professor had given me. They responded with “bring that flyer home so we can look into it a bit more.” I was in.
All of a sudden, I was enrolled in both the courses and had already paid my first deposit. That was nearly five months ago. After that, I pretty much forgot about the trip altogether until I had days left to pack before we left. You know that feeling you felt as a kid when you had a school field trip the next day, so the night before, you hardly got any sleep because you were so excited? Maybe even laid out your outfit beforehand so you wouldn’t waste any time rushing out the door? That’s how I felt the night before we left for Japan times 10. I honestly don’t think I got any sleep since I planned to catch up on the 12-hour flight ahead of me.
My first memorable experience in Japan was before we even landed. The day we arrived, it was actually raining pretty hard and it was super foggy outside. Note that I had absolutely zero expectations for this trip. I didn’t do any research beforehand over anything about Japan so I came into it blind. I was hoping that I would get a little sneak peak of Japan while flying into Tokyo airport but was unable due to the weather. Nevertheless, I kept my head high and my mind open to what Japan had in store for me.
Tokyo was probably my favorite stop of the entire trip. I’ve always loved being in the city and coming from Austin, I enjoyed spending time downtown. Getting to experience the busy life of such a massive city was so thrilling to me. I immediately fell In love with Tokyo. I enjoyed walking the side streets of during my free time. I just wanted to experience as much of Japan as I could during my free time and since I didn’t come prepared with many places that I would want to visit, just getting to walk around and explore was the best way for me to find cool places to shop, as well as see as much of the city as I could in the short time that we were there.
During the Tokyo leg of the trip was when I really got to meet some of the other SJMC Japan members. This is the time that I made some friends that I would end up spending time with throughout the entire program.
The first meal I ate in Japan was at ramen shop that was close to our hotel. A group of eight of us went together. This is where I got to know Kendall, Amanda and Stefan. One memory I have from that first meal was I chose to wear a white shirt, and I ended up getting more than enough stains on it throughout the course of the meal which gave everyone a good laugh.
My favorite place we got to visit was Shibuya. Getting to to see the Shibuya crossing in person was a dream I never knew I had until I was there. All of the colorful billboards and ads that covered the sides of building made the whole place look like a movie. All of the shops around the Shibuya area were really cool.
One of the things I wanted to buy were a pair of Onitsuka Tigers, and I found the pair that I always wanted to get, which I ended up wearing throughout the rest of the trip.
Another one of my favorite places was when we took a day trip to Miyajima Island near Hiroshima. This is where I got to see the famous floating torii gate. Getting to see that In person was a whole different experience. I had seen it plenty of times before in photos, but it was so surreal getting to stand in front of it. I also loved getting to make a reel over the sika deer that roamed the island. Walking around and interacting with all of the deer was one of the highlights of my trip.
We also took a gondola up Mount Misen. It would’ve nice to see the view from the top of the mountain, but it was a particularly foggy day and the top was shrouded with a thick fog. Nevertheless, I found a nice bench at the top that I assumed had a nice view behind all the fog, and I enjoyed sitting and listening to the nature around me anyways. I probably sat at this bench for an hour not looking at my phone or anything but just enjoying where I was. When I go back to Japan, and I WILL go back, I would love to return when I could hopefully catch a glimpse of the beautiful views of Miyajima Island.
One thing that I really enjoyed getting to learn throughout this trip was how to pay close attention to details and being aware of your surroundings. This was very important when it came to writing my feature stories during the trip as well as creating reals and other various content for the SJMC Japan Instagram account.
Creating multiple reels during the trip was something that I didn’t expect to be as hard as it was. I had made reels for my personal account in the past and had plenty of experience editing videos together so I didn’t think I would have any trouble doing so. Coming up with fun and creative ideas to build my content around ended up being the hardest part.
This trip was without a doubt one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to join SJMC Japan on this grand adventure. It was so surreal getting to experience what life was like on the other side of the world.
Japan was my first time ever leaving the United States, and I don’t think I could’ve had a better experience in any other country.
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