Moving to a new place can be very intimidating. Just as with moving to a new neighborhood or school, it can be difficult to figure out where you fit in. When moving to a new country, you are faced with the same challenges. However, cultural differences also have to be taken into consideration.
After I got accepted into the student exchange program at Waseda University, I thought to myself, “What were you thinking?” I was moving to a new country where I had no friends or family nearby. I didn’t know the language, and I would be living on my own for the first time. I felt overwhelmed, to say the least. Despite my many fears, my transition was quite smooth. I was very fortunate to have an amazing program coordinator who introduced us to the way in which the transportation system works, money matters and academic procedures, to name a few. During orientation, I got to meet my fellow exchange students from California. There were 23 of us representing the different California State Universities.
Our program coordinator also introduced us to several Waseda students. These students helped us with different errands, such as getting a Japanese cell phone, going to the ward office to register our address and applying for health insurance. These errands would have been difficult to do without the help of a Japanese native speaker.
