Floating in Japan Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Without a doubt, the most frustrating aspect of this program for me was the education. Rigor, intensity, and meaningful work was almost entirely lacking. The restriction of the program to only use Japanese for courses heavily crippled the education experience, but structurally, the education practices at the host university were frustrating to deal with and almost impossible to compromise with. I often felt as if I was on vacation, but that it was being interrupted with busy work and unhelpful, non-engaging classes. After my first semester, I was heavily discouraged from caring about the academic aspect of study abroad which unfortunately still took up a lot of time and was very unfulfilling. That isn't to say I didn't learn anything. However, what I did learn does not match the amount of time that was actually spent in class and the actual classroom experience was not worth the time. Dealing with the bureaucracy of the system and then individual classes added another level of frustration.

On-site administration of your program

It was overall very good when it was there. I personally enjoyed the freedom we were allowed when doing activities. That is to say that we, the students, very much had to figure and problem solve a lot of interesting and challenging problems on our own. At times the administration seemed very disorganized and although that did happen, everything still got accomplished in the end. However, during the 2nd semester, the lack of incoming students resulted in the program disappearing. The absence of the support and social space it previously provided made navigating the winter very difficult. The fall and spring were very good because the program and administration were active, but the winter term and overall experienced suffered as a result of their absence.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I was highly unsatisfied with this. This was the second worst aspect of the program. Our only housing options were a homestay or on-campus housing. Not wanting to commit to living in a home with strangers, I picked the college dorms which still resulted in sharing a living space with strangers and a lot of ridiculous rules and expectations. Even after engaging my house mates and trying to live by their rules, integration was still impossible because they, a long with much of the campus doesn't care about integrating temporary students. This was only one of the reasons, but living in the dorms was actually a huge detriment to experiencing daily life in Japan. I lived on-campus, away from the actual residence areas, and where perhaps I could have learned a lot about typical housing options in Japan, I was instead forced to stay in an unwelcoming dorm. Overall, living in a environment riddled with insurmountable cultural barriers that were out of my control was very frustrating and often, I was compelled to simply not come home. Personally, I don't live well with other, something that I already knew from previous experience and that wasn't going to change just because it was a "different culture" and "part of the study abroad experience."

You can find amazing tasting food quite literally anywhere you go in Japan. The quality of food on average is significantly high. It is difficult to find 'bad food.' Even special needs, like allergies or dietary choices were easy to accommodate.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I basically didn't feel integrated at all. This is largely in part a fault of the coddling done by the university. By placing you on campus, it strips you of the need to do many everyday things that someone living off campus in an actual house or apartment would need to do. This involves actually engaging with the community to a certain degree. It is important to mention that Japanese society is socially difficult to penetrate. I did find some success, but it took a very long time to get there. This will vary per person though and I know I'm at fault for this shortcoming as well. The most significant contributor to this though was the on-campus culture which was ultimately very alienating and closed-off.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Never had an issue. I can't comment, but my friends who got sick were attended to very well.

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world.

The "study" aspect of the "study abroad" heavily crippled the entire experience through various means. The housing, the education, the coddling by the school. It was only outside experiences and exploring Japan that really redeemed the year abroad for me.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Unable to hold a job and make some income was very stressful, and unfortunately, I had to rely on money that I did not want to borrow to make up the remainder. the $2500 my financial aid gave me for the first 6 months was absolutely inadequate. The $2000 for the last 4 months was still not enough. Depending on activities and desire to travel, you can easily go through $100-$500 in a week. In regards to food, assuming you don't buy your own groceries, $150 is a reasonable expectation for just food per week. There WILL be other expenses. Its basically impossible to escape Japan's consumerist culture.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Encouragement was was actually too high. It was detrimental to the experience in many ways.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• The freedom.
• The fieldtrips.
• The solidarity of being there through Middlebury.

• Housing
• Winter activities
• Clarifying the expectations of the program.

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer