Japan/Italy

As of a year ago, I already had plans to travel to Italy for a week this summer through a program that the art department at my school is participating in. Those plans are still on, and setting sail in late July. However, there has been another travel opportunity offered to me as of this past March.

Our Japanese teacher told us about a program that the prime minister of Japan had organized. The plan is to sponser around 1200 students in America who are studying Japanese, to go on a two-week long exchange/service/tour/homestay visit of Japan. The trip would consist of a homestay, some touring, visits to Japanese schools, and doing a little bit of clean-up in the area that was hit by the tsunami. So it really is exchange/service/tour/homestay.

When he first told us this, my class was immediately excited. Then he said all travel expenses would be paid for those who are going. We are esctatic. But I know I also have the trip to Italy, so I go home and check my calendar to see if the trips might overlap.

Barely. At that point, the tentative dates for the trip to Japan was July 9th- July 22nd, give or take a few days. I leave for Italy on the 23rd. 3 weeks of international travel? Not even considering what time I would return from Japan, then leave for Italy? No way that would be allowed. I am of course disappointed, and start to accept that I probably won't be going. I tell my mom about the trip anyway, but make sure I say that I know it's not gonna work out.

However, approaching one of the meetings about my Italy trip, my mom mentions asking my art teacher about incorporating the preceding trip to Japan. I am surprised, because I was assuming it just wasn't going to work. My mom's reason? "Well, the trip is free. I don't want to just pass it up."

I love those moments when I realize my mom is even more awesome than I thought. So we ask about it at the Italy meeting, and they say it should be fine, as long as the day I return from Japan isn't the same day I should leave for Italy. They discussed even meeting them in Italy, from Japan, but we decided to wait and see once we know the dates of the Japan trip for sure.

So the next day, I tell Sensei that the chance of me going to Japan depends on me knowing the exact days of the trip. He finds out within the hour, and tells me in my next class. "It's July 8th-21st. Does that mean you're applying?" And of course, I answer, "YES."

Back from Japan on the 21st, leave for Italy on the 23rd. That would be a crazy 3 weeks. But I'm up for it. So I fill out the application, get teacher recommendations, a copy of my transcript, write an essay with my reasons for wanting to go, and cross my fingers. Honestly, I knew I had a decent chance at being selected. I have good grades, and I have a good service record. But I was still nervous as can be. I don't like getting my hopes up if there is a decent chance of being let down, so my mindset was that I wasn't going to get selected. Sounds pessimistic, but really I just didn't want to be disappointed.

Plus, there would only be 23 students going out of the three eligible schools in our district. Two other schools offer Japanese, so I'm sure there were a lot of people who applied.

It's been a couple weeks, and I walk into Japanese class, suddenly being bombarded by my friends Rebecca and Alyssa. "WE GOT IN!!!" I was really excited for them, because they are extremely interested in Japanese language and culture. I think they even want to study abroad in Japan in college.

With this knowledge that, yes, the results are in, Sensei knows who's going to go and who's not, I become panicky. I basically stayed calm since turning in my application, but now I was really nervous. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to find out until halfway through class whether I got in or not. I'm sitting in my chair, half paying attention to the sentences I'm supposed to be translating, when Sensei hands me a piece of paper, and says, "おめでとうございます,” which means, "Congratulations."

I MADE IT IN. I sqealed, and was overcome by excitement. Some of my friends were going too. It's what I'm looking forward to most this summer. In fact, I plan on keeping my blog and updating it after my trip.

Honestly, I can't stop thinking about Japan. I am so pumped, it's kind of ridiculous. I'm FINALLY going to be able to experience their culture first-hand. Ahh :D So now you may or may not see more posts that have to do with Japan. Just a heads up. :)