(Nov. 14, 2015 3:45 AM)BUMP KING Wrote: Prayers and/or good wishes go to the Parisian community tonight, This is truly an inhuman string of attacks...
I guy I met at my college is currently finishing his art degree in Paris, my Facebook feed basically blew up with everyone thinking he might have been dead until he finally checked in saying he was alright. The fact that stuff like this happens makes me sick.
It's been a busy week for me. Earlier this week I was gathering information for a cultural exchange program to go to Beijing. I was supposed to have an interview on Wednesday but I decided that I never want to step foot in China (It's too different for me, as a westerner. It's nothing like Japan or Korea) so I ended up canceling my interview. After that, someone pointed out to me that I probably had enough money to attend a language school in Japan, which was my original plan before beginning college last year. Finances got in the way so I had to cancel.
Over the past few days I've been talking with a coordinator for a school in Shinjuku and everything is basically lining up for me to go. Rather than transferring to an art school, it looks like I will begin studying Japanese in an intensive program beginning in July and lasting for the next two years following. After that I'll likely enroll in a Japanese university and complete my degree. I'll be paying out of pocket for my first year, the funds are coming from a combination of my savings for art school and the savings I was going to use for a trip to Tokyo in May. The school will be helping me find a part time job upon arrival and then I will pay for my second year through installments.
This is a lot happening all at once. At this point, the only thing that can stop me would be if I didn't manage to get a sponsor for my visa. Speaking of which, I'm meeting with my potential sponsor on Monday morning before school. She's my family doctor and is actually from Japan. I met with her tonight to propose my plan and she seemed genuinely interested and then asked me to come back on Monday with a letter of recommendation from one of my teachers as well as my personal records. It seems like I might have found my sponsor. Or at least, I know she's thinking about it; otherwise she would have just said no.
tl;dr - I'm cancelling my trip to Tokyo for two weeks, and am instead moving to Tokyo for two years.