Japanese Past Review
By A student (Brandeis University) - abroad from 01/13/2017 to 05/13/2017 with
CET Japan
I 100% feel more confident in my language skills. It was weird at the start of the semester, but I loved coming to be able to properly converse with my friends at the end or ask directions on the street or order food or what have you.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Definitely the program to choose if you want to improve your language skills. The only thing I would say is that it would have been nice to have just a tiny bit more time to travel around during the semester. The academics were really rigorous and I won't like, stressing about school on top of culture shock and trying to get to know people could be a bit much, but overall 100% glad I chose this program. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Super, super nice people, but I feel like organization could be handled a bit better. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Far and away the best part of the program was living with local roommates who were always available to answer questions and just be a friend. |
| * Food: |
Osaka is called the kitchen of Japan and for good reason. Food was phenomenal there. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
You're jumping off the deep end with CET and I really feel like we all grew a lot and really got a feel for the culture. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
I needed to get a prescription refilled while I was abroad. Because of the class schedule, really the only time to go to the hospital to get something like that sorted out is the weekend and unless you're really advanced, you basically have to have a fluent speaker with you (it's a rather specialized vocab, after all). The program director called for me and was going to help translate for me at the hospital, but we found out at the last minute that there was going to be a translator available. It turns out, thought, that there was only one for the whole building, so I did a lot of muddling through. Eventually got through the appointment (other than paperwork and language barriers, it wasn't too bad) and went to go fill the prescription across the street. I was enrolled in the CET health insurance, but the system works by reimbursing you, so watch out for the prices of your prescriptions. I ended up spending over $300 that day between the medication and the doctor's visit and it took a while for it all to get reimbursed. |
| * Safety: |
Never once felt any concern over my safety. People in Osaka are really nice. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I met up with some friends from another program while in Osaka and they were having trouble just ordering food in Japanese even though they'd already been there for a month. At their university, they don't absolutely have to use Japanese and more often than not end up falling back on English. It seemed nice at first, but as I kept talking to them, I realized that I never would have used my Japanese skills in that environment, wouldn't have improved and would have probably wasted my entire semester, so even though the language pledge was hard and the classes were rigorous, I'm really grateful having my boundaries pushed. |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Groceries were randomly expensive in Japan.... |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $90-$120 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I found it worked well to balance out cooking for yourself and eating out every now and then. Groceries were a little on the pricey side, if you ask me, and it was a lot more difficult to make a lot and save for later in the week like I do at home. So spending 400-600 yen on a conbini meal a couple times a week was actually a pretty good idea. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
Key: CET is a language pledge program. It's all Japanese, all the time- especially when in the classroom building when you will be called out for using English, even as an absolute beginner. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Japanese 40 |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Get used to using Japanese, Take advantage of the practice, because it's going to be a lot harder to speak Japanese in everyday life once you come back. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | That I really should have taken the Shinkansen to Tokyo XD |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
