はじめまして! (Hajime-mashite!) Nice to meet you! My name is Lauren Leong, and I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I will graduate this year from the University of California in Santa Barbara, but first, I am excited to share with you how I completed my final year of studies abroad in Tokyo, Japan.
My desire to study in Japan was inspired by mentors who shared their vivid stories and mementos from their past visits. I traveled to Tokyo and Kyoto for the first time in 2017, and although I didn’t speak any Japanese then, I was capitvated by Japanese society. With the help of the Gilman Scholarship; I returned to Tokyo in 2019 to study Japanese language and culture. My time in Japan ended too soon, but it did inspire me to pursue a global career promoting culture and language exchange through the arts.
Want to know more about how you can study or intern abroad when you are a college student? The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Learn more about the scholarship by clicking here!
