Japan Style

Man, this keeps bogging me down!

I received an email last week from Kansai Gaidai saying that they'd received my application, but there was a concern on my medical evaluation form. They wanted my doctor to send another letter explaining that I was just fine. As if the first one wasn't enough.

So...my application still hasn't been accepted and it's upsetting. I should have it fixed by the end of this week. Time will tell.


Tyler

At long last, my application to Kansai Gaidai is complete! I received the medical evaluation from my Mom via email yesterday, and turned in the application to Kat today. She also had me sign a contract saying that I agreed to pay OSU room and board, tuition, and fees in exchange for those same services at Kansai Gaidai.

We talked briefly about the girl that was there this semester that came home early. I don't want that to happen to any of us next semester!

Apparently the meal plan over there works like this: You are given breakfast and dinner at your residence hall, but lunch is reimbursed monthly. This is good, I think, because I can eat off-campus or wherever I would like for lunch everyday.

Still working on my course equivalency. I thought it was due today so I panicked and got a lot of work done on it today. This is a good thing, too! Sometimes I just have to get kicked into motion.


Tyler

I went in for the course equivalency part of my study abroad adventure today. I got a lot more than expected...and a little less too.

I took the half-hour before my meeting to determine my classes and print out their course descriptions. I should be taking some fun and easy classes next semester - things like "The Visual Anthropology of Japan," "Religion in Japan," and "Sexuality in Japan," and also my language classes. I'm excited for them.

I got into what appears to be a 10-minute argument with Kat, the coordinator for reciprocal exchange, in the office today. I came in and asked about my expense estimate, and she got upset very quickly. I'll try to lay it out as objectively as possible.

August 31st: I email Anne asking for an expense estimate to help fill out my Bridging and Gilman scholarship forms. She forwards the message to Linda Millis and Kat to "get the process started."

September 22nd: A follow-up email to Kat reveals that she did not start the estimate as asked. She did not think it necessary as the numbers would be more accurate as we came upon the study abroad date. She wanted me to have talked to Linda Millis first.

Later that day: Message from Kat: "This is the first time I hear that you need the expense estimate. You are now on my list, it will be done by the end of the next week."

Fast forward to today, September 30th: She doesn't have the expense estimate because she assumed it was for federal financial aid. She assumed wrong.

She got very terse, very exasperated, and quite upset about the whole thing. She raised her voice at me, too, while I kept my calm. It wasn't fun in the slightest. After that, she produced my course equivalence sheet for me. We ended the meeting on friendly (enough) terms.

From now on, I told her, I will give her every deadline and tell her exactly what to do when, and give no wiggle room or doubt in her mind as to my intentions. That's apparently the only way to get things done.

My next step is to get signatures from my advisors confirming my courses will count for me.


Tyler

Hey!

I've been working on my application for the past week or so. I guess I need to fill you in on that!

Kansai eventually sent us the link to K-GENESYS (it does indeed exist) it's really nice and efficient. About half of it is filled online, and the other half is a series of documents that you print, fill out, and mail to Kansai Gaidai. My study abroad office offered to mail them for me. yay! According to the timeline, My app was supposed to be turned in 2 weeks ago, but we're okay on time I think.

I ordered my plane ticket yesterday morning. I will be flying alone to Japan. It's unfortunate, but it had to be. Megan and Blaine got their airfare paid for with miles which is awesome! But...they must fly through Guam and that flight would have been $2400 for me. That's too much.

I will be flying from Tulsa to Houston, then to Narita, then to Kansai International. The return trip is the same. All in all, the airfare was about $1400. Not bad at all, and cheaper than when I went in 2008 for sure (thank you cheap oil prices).

Should get my paper application completed and turned in Wednesday. Probably will receive the rest of my documents next week to wrap up the process. I go in for course equivalency on tomorrow, too. What classes do I want to take...


Tyler

ps - My computer's been in for repairs for 13 days, so I haven't had access to my photos and such. Sorry for the lack of multimedia in this post.

Hey there,

I got my ISIC card yesterday. It's an international student insurance card, and it will help cover repatriation and other things that my regular health insurance won't. It also has lots of neat discounts for things.

Megan and I are looking for flights to Japan...she has points on Continental, so we're going to fly them most likely. Unfortunately, the layovers and flight stops are really weird; They either take you through Chicago or Denver, or have a 6-hr layover. Megan's best and cheapest actually would take us from Houston to NYC, and then an 11-hour layover to Japan. There's just not a good flight to be had around that time...so we'll just have to make do with what we can get.

I'm hesitant to even book a flight right now, as our application process is unknown at this time. We should already have our deadlines, application forms, and instructions, but we only have the deadline. It's not our Study Abroad Office's fault, either. Here's the lowdown:

The Kansai Gaidai website changed a couple months ago, and the application forms are no longer available on their usual page. Instead, the instructions there say to apply online using K-GENESYS. A google search of that acronym results in nothing relevant whatsoever.

Speaking with our SA Office, they said they should have received the login information already. She emailed them, and their reply was a letter saying to visit another website for the application.

That website doesn't exist anymore. I checked the cached version of Google, and it used to have everything. Now it's a "404" page. That's just great.

Kat, our SA person, is apparently not receiving info from Kansai Gaidai, so her advice was to fill out the forms for last semester and be ready to submit them upon confirmation that they'll even work at all.

That's wonderful news. Go ahead and spend time filling out something that might not even be the real application, in hopes that they'll have pity upon you and accept you anyway. Should we really be looking at flights when we're not even sure we can apply yet?

Argh, I say. This is frustrating. Hopefully some answers will come about soon.


Tyler

Study Abroad Orientation was 5 hours long...it was long.

I'd heard much of what they had said before, when I had gone to Japan with the Wings of Rotary group back in 2008. Things like packing light, reverse culture shock, Skype, etc. The things of interest to me were about scholarships, financial aid, application paper deadlines, and how to get the most out of your study abroad.

Lunch was my favorite, though. We got to eat first(!) out of everyone, and we sat out on the porch with Naho, Keiko, and Wooka. Naho and Keiko are exchange students from Kansai Gaidai, and they were friendly. The easiest Japanese people to talk to are young Japanese girls - they're the most excited and animated out of anyone. And very easygoing! I was speaking Japanese with them the whole time, and it was quite fun. We talked about Kansai Gaidai a lot, as well as their own adjustment in coming to OSU. Tyler Weirick was also there and we talked a little about Shinshu, too.

I'm more excited for my travel, and I feel a little better prepared for it. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us Kansai Gaidai goers about how meal plan will work, or list the actual host university application deadline in our papers...so now we have to figure out what to do and when. Oh well - they're working pretty hard as it is, and I told them in the meeting that I expect accurate information regarding housing, expenses, and meal plans.


Tyler

I started around 5pm with getting the rice cooking and then Jesse arrived. Trey came too, and we all helped make the edamame in the kitchen. I sorta used a recipe from WikiHow.com, and it turned out okay. I shouldn't be allowed to drop things into boiling water...I splashed some water onto my hand when I threw a bunch of the beanpods in. After that I just prepared other things. haha!


Tyler