From the very moment I started college, I knew I wanted to study abroad at some point.
In the beginning there wasn’t a specific place I had in mind, and there wasn’t a track I wanted to follow. In my heart, I just knew the right opportunity would fall into my hands if I was patient enough. Once I had heard about the SJMC Japan program, I knew that this was the perfect one for me.
There’s a lot that I was able to not only experience but grow and learn from. Certainly there were many challenges being introduced into a brand new culture, and no shortage of confusion when it came to navigating even simple things like the restroom.
But overall I feel that this let me develop into an overall better communicator in the sense that I had to adapt to how people in an entirely different culture interact with each other.
Japan is a beautiful place, there’s no doubt. But it’s an even better source of communication. Everywhere you go, there’s always some sound playing that lets you know what’s going on. It’s so simple that even a foreigner like myself can understand things in a foreign country.
I enjoyed things like sweet jingles that play from credit card machines, letting me know my transaction went through, and the increasingly familiar song from train stations helped me know I was almost to my destination. In many ways, Japan is an excellent communicator.
While I learned a lot as a communicator just being in the environment, I also made irreplaceable memories that I will hold onto for the rest of my life.
Those two short weeks were some of my strongest moments. Being able to go on a trip with one of my closest friends and making many more along the journey is something I’ll never forget. In that way, Japan helped me as a communicator in interpersonal relationships. These were people I spent my entire time with, some strangers to me that I bonded with simply because of this one trip.
Outside of all the things I learned and really internalized from the trip, I was able to just see and do things I’d never normally do.
One of my favorite days was our free day where I was able to spend it doing as much as I could in Tokyo. It felt a little chaotic and jam-packed since there was so much I wanted to do, but being able to visit the Tokyo Skytree is definitely something that I’ll never forget. The view was absolutely stunning, and certainly a once-in-a-lifetime sight that just simply sticks in your brain.
But it didn’t just end there; I was also able to visit an otter café. While it was less of a café and more of an opportunity to pet and hold cute otters, it was still an equally memorable experience for me. I’ve never been so close to one, let alone being able to play with them.
Thinking back about it now, studying abroad for me was never about the destination I went to. It was about going somewhere that would challenge me, somewhere that would put me in an uncomfortable situation where I’d have to learn and adapt. This trip taught me that communication goes beyond just language. Communication isn’t just words; it’s also sounds, traditions and shared experiences.
Those two weeks I spent in Japan flew by faster than I would’ve liked, but the lessons and experiences I gained will be with me for the rest of my life.
In the end, this trip didn’t just show me a new country, but showed me how much I was capable of learning outside of my comfort zone.
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