I’m a little hesitant to speak about my experiences abroad. There is so much to say that when people ask me about it, I don’t even know where to start or how long to go on for. I’ve hiked through frozen craters in Hokkaido, slept alongside the beaches in Kyuushuu, watched the sunrise from the peak of Mt. Fuji, and made and lost dozens of friends.
At this stage, it’s still too early to say how the experience has affected me as I find myself still changing, and standing at a fork in the road right now.
You see, I’ve recently been doing some job-hunting. As a graduate student majoring in Computer Science, I’ve applied to software companies and in fact have an interview scheduled shortly. As an EAP returnee who longs for adventure and mystery again, I’ve also applied to teach English in Japan, and will soon interview for that job. Family and friends say it doesn’t really make sense for me to teach in Japan, but at the same time, I don’t see myself being able to refuse an offer if I receive one. I guess only time will tell which road is for me. So, a lot of things are still up in the air. In a way you could say the journey is still continuing within me.
The experience overall however, has been a very positive one, and I consider last year to be the best that I’ve ever had. I feel that I’ve lived more than I could have hoped for already, and find myself being able to laugh more, and to give more because of it. It’s a sense of freedom really, from despair you could say. That one I owe to Chris.