Hajimemashite
Dear traveler
Would you like some tea? We could sit and chat for a while, perhaps.
I bet you would be so kind and let me start - for breaking the ice, you know.
What an exciting news it was, right before Christmas last year, when a big envelope was poking out of our mailbox. There was a letter stating something like, hey, you've got the scholarship for Japan. Happy now?
Well, of course I was happy. At first. And then there was the swing of moods and emotions just inviting for getting a ride. Dear traveler, if you are considering letting the chances pass, let me tell you, things are different when viewed from the other side of Earth in a different timezone. So take the chance, especially if it is considering study in Japan.
So I did take the chance. And besides, I've been to Japan before - studying there for one year as an exchange undergrad student. Well, that time it was different, as the University (oh my dear Kanazawa University) was inviting the students for their exchange program KUSEP. Everything was neatly prepared for us back then - visa, transport from the airport (my flight was three hours late and they still waited with the whole group of jetlagged foreign students - so grateful, forever), dormitory, citizen registration, health insurance... everything went smooth as a melting lump of butter on toast. Now, 6 years later I felt a burning urge to go feel the country of my dreams again.
This time, however, the deal was different - I somehow sneaked in one of the Universities by (simply?) asking the professor in charge of the laboratory there if he, by any chances, would accept a short term exchange researcher. Eventually we met at one of the conferences we both attended that year as well and deal was done. All I needed was funding - that came under the Christmas tree in the big envelope. In a nutshell, the fortune star was shining or snoozing above my head from the very beginning to the very end. Sometimes it is all it takes, right.
And so the University (The University of Tokyo this time) expected a new short term researcher trainee in March next year (which, actually is two months in right now - Yey!).
And so the whole process of dealing with visa, concerns about not getting visa in time, getting accommodation in Tokyo (you wish) just waited behind the door together with other daily musts and wants.
But let that be another story.
Do you also study in Japan?
Would you like some tea? We could sit and chat for a while, perhaps.
I bet you would be so kind and let me start - for breaking the ice, you know.
What an exciting news it was, right before Christmas last year, when a big envelope was poking out of our mailbox. There was a letter stating something like, hey, you've got the scholarship for Japan. Happy now?
Well, of course I was happy. At first. And then there was the swing of moods and emotions just inviting for getting a ride. Dear traveler, if you are considering letting the chances pass, let me tell you, things are different when viewed from the other side of Earth in a different timezone. So take the chance, especially if it is considering study in Japan.
So I did take the chance. And besides, I've been to Japan before - studying there for one year as an exchange undergrad student. Well, that time it was different, as the University (oh my dear Kanazawa University) was inviting the students for their exchange program KUSEP. Everything was neatly prepared for us back then - visa, transport from the airport (my flight was three hours late and they still waited with the whole group of jetlagged foreign students - so grateful, forever), dormitory, citizen registration, health insurance... everything went smooth as a melting lump of butter on toast. Now, 6 years later I felt a burning urge to go feel the country of my dreams again.
This time, however, the deal was different - I somehow sneaked in one of the Universities by (simply?) asking the professor in charge of the laboratory there if he, by any chances, would accept a short term exchange researcher. Eventually we met at one of the conferences we both attended that year as well and deal was done. All I needed was funding - that came under the Christmas tree in the big envelope. In a nutshell, the fortune star was shining or snoozing above my head from the very beginning to the very end. Sometimes it is all it takes, right.
And so the University (The University of Tokyo this time) expected a new short term researcher trainee in March next year (which, actually is two months in right now - Yey!).
And so the whole process of dealing with visa, concerns about not getting visa in time, getting accommodation in Tokyo (you wish) just waited behind the door together with other daily musts and wants.
But let that be another story.
Do you also study in Japan?
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