Before coming to Japan for the semester I went on a trip to South Korea and I wanted to share my first experiences outside of America. I’ve always struggled with making friends, but when I started college I decided to try my best to be more extroverted and luckily I made many international friends at Mizzou. Most of these friends were in America for only a semester so I was worried that maybe by the time I got to study abroad they may not care to see me or would have forgotten me entirely. I am delighted to say I was very wrong. Since most of the international students I met were Korean I spent a week there to hangout with them before coming to Japan and seeing my friends there. Thanks to them I had an incredible start to my time abroad.

In America I showed my international friends around the city and when I went to Asia I found these roles reversed. Almost everyday I met with a group of friends who would show me local restaurants and shops, as well as taking me to the best tourist spots. In Korea I went to traditional markets, Seoul tower, many temples, and other beautiful places. A couple of them even helped me go to the doctor when I ate noodles that were too spicy for me to handle.

Before coming to Japan for the semester I went on a trip to South Korea and I wanted to share my first experiences outside of America. I’ve always struggled with making friends, but when I started college I decided to try my best to be more extroverted and luckily I made many international friends at Mizzou. Most of these friends were in America for only a semester so I was worried that maybe by the time I got to study abroad they may not care to see me or would have forgotten me entirely. I am delighted to say I was very wrong. Since most of the international students I met were Korean I spent a week there to hangout with them before coming to Japan and seeing my friends there. Thanks to them I had an incredible start to my time abroad.

In America I showed my international friends around the city and when I went to Asia I found these roles reversed. Almost everyday I met with a group of friends who would show me local restaurants and shops, as well as taking me to the best tourist spots. In Korea I went to traditional markets, Seoul tower, many temples, and other beautiful places. A couple of them even helped me go to the doctor when I ate noodles that were too spicy for me to handle.

Since arriving in my dorm I have made new friends, and we see each other almost everyday, go to bars or karaoke and explore the city. There is a singe of pain every now and then of missing my family, pets and friends, but because of everyone I’ve met and spent time with I am adapting to a new culture and environment smoothly.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Doshisha University