Japan Immersion

When I first came upon the idea of going to japan, I was a little nervous being so far from home. Although once I meet with the other students as well as the director of the program, some of those fears went away. However, I was still going to be in a completely new place I had never been before. Once I arrived, I realized how beautiful and peace place japan was. I was lucky enough to go to Beppu which is a small town in the Oita prefecture in the southern part of japan. I stated on campus at APU for the duration of my program, and then stayed a bit after the program to take care of and teach children at a small school in Hiji which is just North east of Beppu. I was able to learn about Japanese business culture as well as learn all about the society and their traditions. I took classes for the first portion of my stay in Japan that really allowed me to absorb everything that Japan had to offer. The first activity that the study abroad program takes you on is the tour of the “Beppu Hells” which are boiling hot springs, to the point that instead of going in the water; they cook and steam food in the springs. The next activity was Zan-Zen meditation, where we entered a temple and where we met with a monk who showed us how to properly meditate according to Zan-Zen customs. After the meditation we attended a traditional Tea ceremony, where they made us tea and treats from scratch. The third activity we did, was a scavenger hunt where we had to run around the town finding things that our organizers asked of us, the hard part was that we would have to speak only Japanese and not English. The final activity that we were able to take part in before the program ended was the Farm Stay, which is by far one of my absolute favorite experiences overall in japan. It was eye opening as well as incredibly beautiful to take part in. We were taken in by a host family that grew organic fruits and vegetables and sold them at market; during our farm stay we helped them with harvesting, bagging, and selling the vegetables at the market.  taking part in the immersion program and then stay to volunteer afterwards is an experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life, because it was truly elevated thanks to the study abroad program. Being able to take part in all of these experiences was truly humbling and inspiring, I feel as though I left japan with much more than what I had originally ventured off with.