You can enjoy living abroad with relative peace of mind.

Short-term study abroad programs tend to be more generous in terms of management and protection of students, as they are structured by the university or organization program. Since you will be spending most of your time in a group with your friends, classmates and teachers, I think you will feel at ease even if this is your first experience of going abroad.

There is always a chance to learn.

I think the good thing about short-term study abroad programs is that it doesn’t end up being just for fun, because unlike traveling abroad for “fun” or “entertainment”, you will have time to learn about the culture and language of the country. Emphasizing the fact that it’s not just for fun might make it a little easier to convince your parents who may perhaps be reluctant to see you go abroad.

You can easily make friends from other countries.

Most of the short-term study abroad programs ensure that there is time to interact with local students. Most of the local students who participate in these programs are interested in international exchanges or are interested in Japan. They want to interact with you in a positive way. Therefore, you will be able to make friends quickly. I myself am still in contact with the local students I met during the short-term study abroad program.

There are a lot of short-term study abroad programs out there, and I’m sure you can find a lot of information about them on a-net or on the International Affairs Division bulletin board. There are also many short-term study abroad programs that can be found on the Internet, and you can conduct your own research. You can also try short-term study abroad online. I encourage everyone to collect information and consider taking part in a short-term study abroad program.

I grew mentally through both enjoyable and painful experiences.

Many of the photos you see at study abroad information sessions are full of smiling faces, as if the students are constantly enjoying their study abroad experience or laughing shoulder to shoulder with their friends. Is the actual life of an international student really full of smiles like that? My answer is both yes and no. There are fun moments when you laugh with your friends, but there are also hard times that don’t show up in photos. For example, when you find yourself unable to keep up with the happy conversations of the local students, when you have difficulty communicating with the shopkeepers in Chinese, or when you can’t find anyone you get on with right away. However, I can now see that going through these hard times is not necessarily a bad thing, and that these times helped me grow as a person. Therefore, I believe that studying abroad is not only an opportunity to learn what you want, but also a good chance to develop yourself through the fun and difficulties of living in another country.

Building long-term relationships

As I already said earlier in this report, it is easy to meet students who are interested in Japan when you study abroad for a short period of time, but you can also meet a wide variety of students when you study abroad for a long period of time as well. The longer you study abroad, the more memories you will have with your friends and the more you will be exposed to the customs of the local people and the way of thinking of the students. I was also surprised at how much my relationships changed over the course of about a year. At first, I really didn’t have any friends, but by the end of my study abroad program, I was able to spend time with many friends, friends that I cherish. This is something that I was able to experience because I studied abroad for a long time, and it left a deep impression on me.

Thinking about myself and my hometown through lectures

At Akita University, I belong to the Faculty of International Resource Sciences, but at National Taiwan University, I was able to freely choose the lectures I wanted to take without being restricted by the faculty. In one of the classes, I had to debate with students and answer their questions. As a Japanese person, I was asked questions by the Taiwanese students about Japan and I asked them about Taiwan. Through these dialogues, I began to think about myself as a Japanese national and about what constitutes common sense in Japan. I was able to learn what kind of image Taiwanese students have of Japan and what they think about the current situation in Taiwan, and I think this was an extremely fulfilling learning experience for me.

Learning the language

As you spend a long period of time in a country and come into contact with the foreign language used there, you will be able to use that language in real life. Before I went to Taiwan, I had only learned Pinyin (Chinese hiragana), and I only learned Chinese grammar for the first time when I arrived there, but I was able to acquire language skills equivalent to HSK level 3 in about a year. If you are only studying the language, I think you can improve your language skills even more. You can study the language in Japan, but I think studying abroad is a good environment for learning the language because you can ask questions to native teachers, practice conversations in Chinese with other students who are at the same level as you, and use Chinese in your daily life.