Over the Puddle

Today I decided to investigate funding for a possible return trip to Japan. To that end, I went to the Financial Aid Office, and spoke with the person in charge there. She immediately recognized me as having studied abroad. When I inquired about financial assistance for studying abroad again, she indicated that because I had already studied abroad once, that she wasn’t sure if they could finance me again. She did take my name and email address and told me she would contact me later with more information.

I can understand the concerns the Financial Aid Office has, and didn’t hold it against them. If I were them, I would rather fund a person going abroad for the first time, rather than someone who had already been abroad. It’s only fair.

After my class of the day, I went to the Study Abroad Office, hoping to get some more answers. When I walked in, the person at the desk asked me if I was Sean Sieg, to which I replied I was. After briefly wondering what I had done, the woman told me that she had just talked with the Financial Aid Office, and had been expecting me to stop by.

I explained my situation, and she replied that she had told the Financial Aid Office that because I would be going abroad for a different semester (fall as opposed to spring), and that it was about two years later, she saw no problem with my trip being financed. Also, apparently because I had been accepted to the study abroad program before, I was automatically accepted, and all I had to do was start the paperwork.

Towards the end of our conversation, I got the chance to talk with the Assistant Director of the Study Abroad program, and asked about a possible scholarship, because I was able to get one previously. He replied that because of our state budget problems, there was a shortage of scholarships available. He did say that there was probably a $600 scholarship I could get. It’s about half as much as I got last time I think, but anything helps.

Back at the office, I later received an email from Financial Aid confirming that they could adjust my financial aid, and give me more money for studying abroad. So, the path is paved before me now.

Now, I just need to get in contact with the coordinator of the JASIN program in Nagasaki, and get a little advice from him before I set anything in stone. I’d still like to investigate the possibility of extending the study abroad to a year, and what to do during the breaks (because when schools is not in session, your room arrangements end, and it’s goodwill if the host parents let you stay).

The biggest concern is going to be spending cash. I think that with my financial aid and the scholarship, I should be able to cover costs easily. I only have until late June to save, and there’s certain obligations I have to pay (such as rent, and utilities). Hopefully, if I budget wisely, I should be ok, and I’ll have to get some solid numbers on financial aid as well.

Well, it has been a while since I’ve been to Japan, but I may be going back again. I was informed a few weeks ago about an English camp in Japan: Summer Camp USA. As you might guess by the name, counselors are selected to go over to Japan and participate in a mini full immersion program for Japanese students whose age ranges from Kindergarten to College.

I look at this as an excellent opportunity to see what the JET program would be like. The funny thing is that even three years ago I couldn’t picture myself considering working in Japan for an extended period of time. Now, depending on how the Summer Camp USA program goes, I may be pursuing more study of teaching the English language as a secondary language. I still find the thought of being a teacher somewhat strange.

I have come to realize, after working on my tenure as a student (only a slight exaggeration), that the degree I have been pursuing the most actively may not be the right one for me. I am a Computer Science student, and aside from the market being extremely poor for Computer Science and Information Technologies, I find that the more CS courses I take, the less I care. My major is also part business, and I find discussion about factory-line production extremely boring, and never really saw myself going into business. Of course, this could also be the result of an extremely delayed case of senior slump as well, or just plain burn-out.

Having determined this, I’ve spent many a night wondering where I would be upon graduation, or what I would be doing. The one thing I noticed is that I have always enjoyed English, but never saw myself going into acting or anything like that. I also enjoyed Japanese quite a bit, and going to Japan, enough to consider doing a study abroad again after the summer camp.

To that end, I wrote an acquaintance in Japan who works at the Japanese college I attended in Japan, and inquired about doing study abroad in the fall, and possibly extending it to a year. The sheer fact that I couldn’t sleep for a long while after sending the email because of the adrenaline rush clued me in that perhaps I was doing the right thing. I haven’t been excited about a class in a long while, and I’ve been in school for 7 years now.

I’m still waiting to hear back about the study abroad program in the fall, and have a lot of research to do before then, such as seeking scholarships, loans, grants, and also looking into the possibility of being not just a JASIN (JApan Studies In Nagasaki) student, but perhaps being a student on a more permanent basis. Perhaps even going so far as trying to finish my English major in Japan, and pursue a Japanese minor.

Unfortunately, as has happened quite a few times in my life, I didn’t consider this very far into the future, so the biggest hurdle will be trying to secure the finances to go. Even if I were to save everything from here on out, the summer camp starts in late June. I only started to consider the option of studying in Japan on a more long-term basis after talking with a Japanese friend of mine just the other day.

The future is a hard thing to predict.