I can’t count the number of times I recount my time at Chubu University, and how it shaped me and my life. I recount all of these memories fondly, and to encourage people I meet who have children or relatives who are considering studying abroad as reasons that they should.
I went to Chubu in 2009 to 2010. The decision came very easily to me, in love with Japanese animation for most of my life and excited to learn and become fluent in Japanese, I worked with my mother to be able to afford to go for a year abroad.
There are small things, such as don’t drag a TV stand across tatami because it can make holes in the bamboo. It’s a small thing, in it’s own regard, but a bigger piece of making my life in Japan smoother, and my life fuller. Simply, to treat your belongings with care.
I recall with a lot of fondness how the professors taught all of us with care each lesson. They taught me what it means to be a caring instructor, through the examples they provided to me, and that experience stayed with me for the six years I taught English in Japan. I have had many wonderful instructors over the years, but the sensei at Chubu University were not only our teachers, but our cultural beacons, and support staff. I am grateful for all of them, who looked out and cared for us over the time I was there.
I believe the most important thing I learned was how to focus on a goal. My time in Chubu taught me the self-control to dedicate myself to a goal, in this case to learn Japanese, and to identify the best ways to succeed in my goal. I made a lot of friends through the friends I made in Ohio University, the Chubu students who studied abroad here in Ohio, and I chose to spend time with these friends. I also branched out, and joined the Manga Research Club at Chubu, and I got to speak Japanese with many students at Chubu University who couldn’t speak English at all.
The last memories I want to share are from my home stay. We weren’t able to go to Iwate prefecture in the year I studied abroad, and only had a short weekend home stay. I stayed with the Emoto household, and it was a big extended family, who were very fun and interesting people. The Emoto family went out of their way to include me in a lot of activities, which I was so very grateful for. I was invited over the New Year to make mochi, and I got to eat lots of fresh mochi for New Years, and to a family outing to a theme park called Little World with the family and their children. I remember those times fondly, and often wish I could go back and relive those times again, if only to enjoy those experiences more than once.
There are so many more than I can possibly recount, but each memory and each experience is precious. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I could relive all of those experiences, but I also savor and appreciate how all of those experiences helped me to grow and learn myself. I hope that the people I interacted with also recall me as fondly as I call them, and that Chubu and Ohio Universities continue to touch the lives of everyone who study in their halls as much as they have me.