After a very long and bittersweet couple of flights, we are back in the States. The time I spent in Japan was amazing and I will treasure the memories and friendships that I made while overseas. Again, I cannot express my thanks enough to our friends at KGU and Osaka University; without them, this trip would not have been nearly as fun as it was, and I am honored that they went to such lengths to make our trip a special one.
Because of this, I would say the most rewarding part of this trip, besides getting to experience a great new culture, was getting to know and form friendships with our pen pals. This also feeds into the most surprising aspect of the trip for me as well. I knew that Japanese culture was very focused on respect and that the people were very nice relative to a lot of us here in the States. However I did not expect it to be on the level that I experienced. I was happily surprised and humbled by how much work our hosts put in to make this trip so great as well how nice the people in the area were too.
To wrap up my thoughts, I would heavily recommend people visit Japan at some point, whether they be future students at U of A debating whether they should go on this trip or not, or just anyone with even a modicum of curiosity about the country and its culture. I almost didn't go on this trip, and after getting back the thought of not coming and experiencing the culture and getting to know the people I met is really sad to me. Japan is a wonderful place and will definitely be returning in the future!
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