Maranna Nwozo
UMBC Exchange: Nanzan University
Major: Visual Arts
Minor: Entrepreneurship
Certificate: Japanese Language
Pre-Departure Post
Hello UMBC!
My name is Maranna Nwozo, and I am a current sophomore majoring in Cinema and Photography, minoring in Entrepreneurship, and getting a Certificate in Japanese Language!! This Spring Semester, I will be studying abroad at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, through one of UMBC’s Exchange programs.
Over the course of getting ready for the departure, I have been going through many stages of emotions. At first, I felt a bit apprehensive as the date was closing in, which is normal, seeing as this will be a big life change. However, over time, I started to feel excitement when researching all the things I would like to do and adding it to my bucket list. Some events that I am most looking forward to trying out are visiting Universal Studios Japan, going to a hot spring bath house, visiting a maid cafe, butler cafe, and a macho cafe, buying items at a Japanese convenience store, and hopefully going to a J-Rock Concert in Japan, which is the event I long to see the most.
Listening to Vocaloid and Japanese rock is actually what initially got me to start learning Japanese as a freshman in high school. I am also interested in Japanese animation, and my ultimate career goal is to start an independent animation and film studio, so I took my Japanese Language studies quite seriously. However, after 6 years of trying to learn the language, I began to lose a bit of motivation from doing it for such a long time without ever actually having been to Japan. So, to gain some motivation for finishing the rest of the courses in my Japanese Language Certificate, I decided to study abroad in Japan for an entire semester!
Before leaving, one of the main priorities that I wanted to accomplish in preparation for going to Japan was intentionally spending time with all my friends and family members, including my friends from high school, whom I don’t see as often since they go to different universities. This meant scheduling different hangouts, playing games with my suitemates in my dorm, and baking cookies with my baby cousins. My roommate and friend, Victoria, is actually going to be studying abroad this semester as well in Newcastle, England! We both decided to become study abroad ambassadors, so please look out for her blog posts! Another event that really touched my heart is that my family and extended family plan to host a going-away party for me a couple of days before I depart! I was so touched when I heard what they wanted to do for me, and it made me feel very cared for by my loved ones.
As for packing… I have made my list and ordered things I would need, but I have yet to physically put my items in a suitcase. I’m not sure if it’s procrastination (which I actually don’t do very often at all) or if it’s because I have not been home very often due to Christmas parties and visiting family and friends, but I will definitely get it done soon!
That concludes this installment of the blog! Thank you for reading!