WHy Japan and how i got here

My interest in Japanese culture started when I was young. My brothers got into videogames and eventually anime, so I got as well. I watched a bunch of anime and instantly fell for the Japanese language (although, of course, anime Japanese is not the same as real life Japanese). So then, when I was about 13 or 14 I started learning the language with "Japanisch in 30 Tagen" (all books are mentioned for information not for advertising) but I only made it to the 13th chapter (of 30). I stopped learning, because I thought, I would not be able to go to Japan with out redoing a school year when I would've gotten back to Germany. And I didn't want to lose my friends or be longer in school than I needed.

 

So in summer vacation between grade 11 and 12 I again looked for exchange organizations and was thrilled, when I found several (I think it was 2 in the end) that offered student exchanges for people that have graduated as "Abiturienten" (the Abitur is the graduation at the highest secondary school in Germany). So I made up my mind that I still had a chance to experience Japan as a real senior high student. I also applied for and actually received a (partial) scholarship.

While I wanted to perform well at school I also tried to study at least a little Japanese.

 

WHY I WANTED TO GO TO JAPAN is ... actually, I don't have exact reasons. It's rather several small thoughts that developed in my head:

  • Why NOT Japan?
  • Do I want to be able to tell my kids about the awesome adventures I had as a teenager?
  • Do I want to have something in my CV to show my future employers how awesome I am?
  • Do I want to embrace a culture, understand it, live it, that is so much different than the German one? Do I want to learn what other views on politeness, friendship and criticism there are?
  • Do I want to learn a language that might help me in my future job life as an IT-employee (I want to study computer science)?
  • Do I want to experience the hardships of not being well-versed in a language and managing to find friends and grow with them (the hardships of course)?
  • Do I want to eat delicious food?
  • Do I want to maybe help people be more open to other cultures by teaching or showing them how Germany is in my eyes?
  • Do I want to just once totally adapt and forget about what I want (this is a paradox since I want to forget about what I want, which means I don't forget about what I want :P) and think about others, their feelings and the harmony in the community first?
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