Paige Isele
UMBC Exchange: Nanzan University
Major: Modern Languages & Linguistics (Japanese)
Minor: Print Media
Jump To: Pre-Departure Post, In-Country Post #1, Post #2, Post #3, Post #4
Pre-Departure Post
初めまして！
Hello UMBC, my name is Paige Isele and my life will be completely uprooted in two days! I’ll be in an airport alone for the first time, I’ll be flying alone for the first time, and I’ll be in a new country (alone!) for the first time. I’m currently in this strange limbo where I feel like I should be more nervous than I actually am, BUT I also feel like I should be grateful that I’m not super nervous. For my fellow chronic overthinkers, I’m starting to theorize that overthinking long before your trip happens can help ease the nervousness that one may get in the week actually leading up to it.
To properly introduce myself, I’m a third-year Japanese major working toward a minor in Print Media. I have been interested in visiting Japan for over a decade now, so this is a dream come true! While my home base will be at Nanzan University in Nagoya, I’m hoping to travel to surrounding cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, and of course the greater area of Tokyo. As a third-year, I’m aiming to get into Nanzan’s equivalent of JPNS 301. A placement test will be held, so I’ve been really ramping up my reviewing these last few weeks. If everything goes well, my next post should be celebrating placing into the correct class…!
In the weeks leading up to my departure, I’ve been desperately trying to learn everything I can about daily life in Japan. Religiously checking Google Maps for train routes and shops near my campus, planning possible weekend trips, learning about IC cards, reading and re-reading documents provided by my abroad university, checking my flight itinerary over and over… you name it, I’ve probably done it! Since I’ve spent so much time meticulously checking things over and over, I feel like I’ve paved over most of my initial worries and only left room for excitement.
As I watch the days tick down, I have been mulling over my overall goals for this trip. My number one giant, bold-lettered goal is to push myself and get out of my comfort zone. Committing to this trip and this blog was already step one of that goal, so I’m making good progress! I’m someone who feels like I’m regularly held back by nerves, so I want to get over that feeling and say “yes” to things I’d typically be too scared to do. I want to put myself out there and get involved at Nanzan and hopefully make long-lasting friends. In a few months, future me will be able to let you know if I accomplished these goals!
As of writing this, I just finished packing most of my belongings (by the way, my poor kitty was sleeping in my luggage for nine hours straight. I think he knows I’m leaving… :’)). It was difficult figuring out what to bring, but if you do your research, things should be alright! For example, I’m making sure to bring a lot of deodorant, as Japan does not typically sell what we’re used to in the US. I’m also packing my hair products, as curly/wavy hair products will be rare to come across. I unfortunately have to leave my hair dryer behind due to the voltage difference, which means no diffuser. Hopefully I can get my hands on one once I get to Japan (if push comes to shove, Amazon exists). If you don’t have straight hair, it’s definitely worth looking into if you’ll be able to access your normal products in Japan. At this point, I think I’ve researched and packed as much as I possibly can, so there’s nothing left to do but go!
Wish me luck with the thirteen hour time difference! よろしくお願いします～
In-Country Post #1
やっほー
I hope everyone back at UMBC is settling into their semester schedule well! For me, my classes only just began yesterday as of writing this. I appreciate the orientation week we got beforehand, because it helped me get acquainted with not only the campus, my dorm, and the people around me, but also gave me ample time to adjust to some of the cultural differences. For those of you who don’t live in Northern Maryland, we don’t have much public transportation up there, so I was super intimidated to use the trains and buses here. I looked over my route on Google Maps for about forty-five minutes before leaving for my first outing since I was so nervous… – “What if I get on the wrong train?” “What if I can’t figure out how to pay at the ticket gate?” “What if my eSIM stops working and I have no service in the station?” – turns out, it wasn’t that difficult and there was really nothing to worry about. Even when I did run into an issue, I was able to speak to the station attendant in broken Japanese and he understood me fine. A running theme of my blog will be hammering in the fact that you don’t need to worry so much, as it’s something I’m trying to tell myself every day. Perhaps writing it down here will help me to follow my own advice.
While abroad, it’s inevitable that you will run into some awkward situations, but don’t let it get to you! I had my reservations about being socially awkward due to the language barrier (well, for me I don’t need a language barrier for that, but regardless…) but then I considered the roles in reverse; when there is a foreigner in America who is not confident in their English, I am never judging them. I’m usually more focused on making sure they’re comfortable and that we don’t have any misunderstandings. It’s very likely that it’s the same for those around you when you’re in a foreign country – you’re likely not being judged!
As for my classes, I opted for less credits so I can put the majority of my energy into my main intensive language class. To follow up on a point in my last post, I did get into Intensive Japanese III like I aimed for! I want to greatly improve my speaking skills while I’m here, so leaving room for free time can allow me to participate in extracurricular activities where I will have the opportunity to converse in Japanese. Apart from my language class, I’m also taking calligraphy, and I found the first session quite challenging! Not only is calligraphy very particular, but it is also taught entirely in Japanese at Nanzan. However, it was also slightly therapeutic to practice writing the same Kanji for the entire class period until I reached a level I was somewhat satisfied with. (Also, for anyone curious, I’m taking four classes. I’ll update you guys on how the workload feels later in the semester!)
So far, I have been able to meet people from almost all corners of the world. While I wasn’t too sure if I would enjoy living in a dorm at first (as opposed to the more secluded single apartments, which is more my style), living here has granted me the opportunity to get to know people that I probably never would have had the chance to speak to otherwise. My dorm is shared between both foreign students and Japanese students, so I have been able to practice my Japanese and also fall back into English when I’ve felt overwhelmed.
While I’m excited to learn, I also hope I’m not so swamped in homework and studying that I can’t travel. During orientation week, I was able to make a trip to Sakae (about thirty minutes West of Nanzan University) in order to visit a current collaboration event happening with a video game series that I love. There are tons of other nerd stuff I want to do while here, but there are also so many beautiful towns and attractions in Japan that I would like to visit. I have already made plans in October to make a weekend trip to Kyoto, so please look forward to that future post!
A tip I’ll sign off with is, if you’re coming to Japan in the summer or early fall, people are NOT exaggerating about the humidity. It’s not bad in the suffocating way, as we’re used to that in Maryland, but it’s bad in the sense that it makes my entire dorm room damp and my hair is constantly frizzy. Wish me luck that mold doesn’t grow on my belongings… :’)
またね～
In-Country Post #2
よっ！ (^０^)ノ
Hello UMBC, I hope everyone is doing well! As of writing this, I’m coming up on a month of being in Japan, and I’m happy to say I feel pretty satisfied with my abroad experience so far. I just came back from a weekend trip to Tokyo, and I’m excited to tell you all about it, from the highest highs to the lowest lows.
If you’re thinking that a weekend trip isn’t enough time to experience Tokyo, you’d be correct. Unfortunately, when you’re a student, there isn’t much of a choice besides weekend trips. However, I was still able to experience a lot of the things I wanted to do, and I plan to travel to Tokyo one more time before I leave in order to hit the places I missed this time around. A useful trick is to make an itinerary beforehand and make sure to leave room for spur-of-the-moment shopping and for getting lost in the stations.
You’d be surprised just how confusing some of the stations in Tokyo are… let’s just say Shinjuku Station is now my enemy and I hope to never see that place again. It was worth it though, because I got to see a huge 3D billboard with a cute animated cat on it, as well as the giant Godzilla head statue looming over the city!
However, the true highlight of Shinjuku for me was definitely Shinjuku Gyoen National Park. I was there for a few hours and barely covered half of the park—it’s huge. I primarily saw the Traditional Japanese Garden section and it was absolutely beautiful, even if September isn’t the best month for pretty scenery at a garden.
I also went to Shibuya and visited the Nintendo Store, Pokémon Center, and some other game-related stores. My wallet is sad but I am very, very happy. I’ve seen videos of the MewTwo statue before, but nothing beats seeing it in person. I definitely recommend Shibuya for those of you who are interested in video games. If you’re more interested in anime, visit Ikebukuro! I also went there, and there were a ton of second-hand merchandise stores that sell goods for much cheaper than usual. Definitely check out the flagship Animate store, it’s a must-see for anime and manga enjoyers. 
Apart from that, I also visited the Sunshine 60 Observatory in Ikebukuro, and even though it wasn’t sunny (contradictory to the name), it was an irreplaceable experience being that high up and seeing such an amazing view of the city.
As for the not-so-fun experiences, I got sick on the Shinkansen (bullet train), which is unfortunate because I was quite excited to ride it for the first time. I figure I must’ve gotten motion sick, and it left my stomach particularly sensitive for the entire weekend, meaning I couldn’t experience much food while there. If you have an upset stomach while in Japan, convenience stores typically sell cooked plain white rice and plain bread (though keep in mind that it’s usually thick white bread). I was luckily able to avoid the motion sickness on the way home because I picked up an anti-motion sickness medication called Travelmin R at a drugstore. It worked like a charm!
I also cannot stress enough to prepare for rain if you come to Japan. I used to consider myself someone who liked rain, but now I couldn’t be further from that. It has rained almost every single day since I’ve gotten here, and it’s not even normal for Japan… I just got unlucky x_x Make sure to bring shoes that you are comfortable wearing in the rain so you don’t have to deal with having a mini pond inside of your shoes while in class. I just had this happen this morning, so the disappointment is quite fresh.
All of that being said, I’ve been having a super fun time! I’ve also been settling well into my classes, and to give an update on workload, it’s been very manageable. It took me a few days to adjust to my language class being fully in Japanese, but I feel better about it now. There are still many vocabulary words my professors say that I do not know, but I will do my best with studying! My goal for the next few weeks is to give up less quick when trying to express my thoughts in Japanese. I end up getting nervous that I’m wasting too much time and end up switching to English, but I would like to stop relying on this crutch, as I think it’s holding me back. Wish me luck! じゃあね (￣▽￣)
In-Country Post #3
こんにちは！
Hello again UMBC, I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather back in America! It’s still 80 degrees every day here in Japan… :’) Sweater weather couldn’t come sooner. Anyways, I wanted to slightly switch gears for this week’s blog post and discuss dealing with illness while abroad, as I was unfortunately ill for a bit last week and I think sharing what I learned could be helpful.
Firstly, I think the most important piece of advice is to understand the resources available to you and to write them down in an easily accessible place. For example, I was at first very overwhelmed by the many different documents I received that were labelled as insurance, so I wanted to completely avoid looking at them. However, I knew there would come a time when I’d need that information, so I took a few hours to check over everything and made sure I understood the differences between the multiple insurances I had been assigned. Something that typically comes with these insurances are resources that can help you in various scenarios. When I got sick, I utilized these resources to first consult with a doctor online, and then they helped me find a nearby clinic that had an English-speaking doctor. The last thing I wanted to do when sick was speak Japanese, so being able to communicate in my native language with the doctor was a relief. There isn’t much to say about my experience at the clinic besides that it went smoothly and it felt way more convenient than clinics in America (I literally got my prescription at the front desk, no pharmacy involved. The doctor was so confused when I was asking when and where to pick up the prescription, lol).
Since I’ve been under the weather, I unfortunately don’t have too many new experiences to share. However, I thought now would be a good time to share about an outing that I skipped over in my previous posts. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium with a club on campus called ESS! I haven’t been to an aquarium in a very long time, so it was fun to see all of the aquatic life. I wouldn’t say it was much different than American aquariums, but it still made for a worthwhile outing and we got to watch a dolphin show, which was the highlight for me! I certainly recommend visiting if you’re ever in the area.
Speaking of popular places in Nagoya, I was also able to visit Osu Shopping District this past weekend, and I think it was one of the best days I’ve had here so far! Granted, that might just be because it was my first outing after recovering from being sick, but I already want to go back. It’s a place with a ton of different shops and restaurants, and right nearby is a shrine called Osu Kannon. I didn’t know this before I visited, but a festival was happening at the shrine that weekend. I didn’t do much at the festival, but I got to see some interesting things like wrestling and some dude doing handstands on poles very high up in the air.
Though these past two weeks have been a little uneventful, I’m excited to go to Kyoto this weekend and share all about it in my next blog post! When I went to Tokyo, I was with friends, but I wanted this upcoming trip to be a solo trip (I admittedly quite enjoy alone time, possibly to my own detriment). I’m a little nervous about navigating Kyoto alone, so please wish me luck! Meanwhile, I’ll be wishing myself luck on staying healthy, because I am TIRED of being sick. >:(
またね～
In-Country Post #4
ヤッホー ☆ ～(‘▽^人)
The highly anticipated Kyoto arc has passed, and I’m here to tell you all about the highlights, regrets, and important tips! Later in this post, I’ll also give an update on my classes, as midterms are inching closer day by day.
Firstly, I know I’ve said it before, but always make sure to plan! While some prefer heavy planning and some prefer to have more spontaneous outings, it never hurts to research where you’re going. There are a few things that I learned before going to Kyoto that saved me from potentially embarrassing situations, such as the fact that the buses in Kyoto operate differently than the ones in Nagoya. For me, I like to make carefully planned itineraries, but I like to leave time for spontaneity; when travelling, it’s easy to get sidetracked since there’s so many new things to see and do.
The first place I went to was Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, known for… well, its bamboo. The forest is next to a serene park and temple, and due to the height of the bamboo, it doubles as a peaceful break from the sun. While it is a fairly short walkthrough, the surrounding area was also beautiful. There is a popular nearby monkey park that I wanted to visit, but I psyched myself out of it when I overheard a tour guide saying that the monkeys would grab peoples’ phones and throw them off a cliff… maybe I’ll try to visit it next time!
In the afternoon I headed to Kinkakuji, which may have been the sightseeing highlight of the trip. I originally wasn’t planning to go here because I thought online pictures sufficed, but it truly was worth seeing in person. Afterwards, I headed into the city and got lunch, as well as checked out the Nintendo Store Kyoto and met this awesome celebrity named Mario. Jokes aside, there was also a really neat rooftop area where you could view Nintendo-themed things while taking in the sunny sky and autumn breeze. This location was better than Tokyo’s, in my opinion!
I ended my day by attending the Undertale 3 Pianos Concert, which as silly as it may sound, was very meaningful to me. Undertale is a game that means a whole lot to me, so to be able to hear such a gorgeous rendition of the game’s soundtrack while being in Japan, a place I’ve worked so hard to go to, made me feel a sort of ‘completeness’. I felt as if there was nowhere else I wanted to be in that moment. I’m very grateful to have had that experience.
I was a little exhausted the day after, so my visit to the famous Fushimi Inari shrine was a quick one. Before I took the Shinkansen home, I visited Teamlabs Biovortex, which is an interactive art museum. It was interesting, but I’m not sure if I’d visit their other locations because being in the dark like that was really disorienting for me and some of the exhibits made me dizzy.
I don’t regret going though, as it’s a great place to take stunning photos and to see unique sights. I feel like I have unfinished business at Fushimi Inari, so I hope to visit Kyoto again in the future. There were so many breathtaking things that I saw, so I hope the next time I go, I can bring friends or family along with me so that they can experience these incredible sights as well. As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Kyoto by myself as I wanted a solo travel opportunity. If you’re interested in solo travel, please make sure to take measures to be safe out there! I always made sure to carry information on emergency contacts in case I were to run into trouble.
Returning to the present, midterms are coming up in two weeks, so I have been swamped with projects. I feel like I’ve definitely settled into school life, and by extension, Japanese life by now. It’s almost been two months, so I’m almost halfway through my abroad experience! This may come as a surprise, but I’ve been lucky enough to not experience homesickness (yet). Any time I’ve felt it creeping up, I’ve managed to will it away. I do miss my cat dearly, though. I hope he’s reading this. Anyways, although I feel settled in, I do have regrets regarding how I’ve gone about absorbing Japanese so far. I originally wanted to keep notes and write down words I didn’t recognize, but I kept putting off buying a journal, and it felt rude to pull my phone out during class to write in my notes app. Then, for each week that passed, I felt like it was already too late to start a journal. If I had started it when I got here, I feel like I’d have a wider vocabulary. I still kind of feel like it’s too late, even though I know that’s a bad way of thinking. Maybe by the next blog post, I’ll have started it! Hold me to that.
Overall, the past two weeks have been incredibly fun and rewarding, and I feel as though I’ve gotten used to life here. This weekend we have a long break, so I’m looking forward to some much-needed relaxation. I’m also planning on exploring the wider Nagoya area during the break, such as Nagoya Castle, so I may talk about that in my next post. I believe students at UMBC are also coming up on midterms, so I wish you all luck!
がんばって！