*sigh* I swear once I am actually in Japan these blog entries will become more frequent. Right now there isn't a lot of terribly exciting news to report. Well, it's a little exciting since I am very close to being completely ready to go. I have my ticket, confirmation from Kansai Gaidai, access to the Kansai Gaidai website which has detailed instructions about my program, my insurance card (which I still have to pick up from school but it is there), talked to a financial counselor and I received one of my scholarships (for $5,000!) so yay! And *whew*. All that took a lot of time and a lot of stress, but it got done. There was also the countless amount of paperwork that I had to do as well, had to sign a bunch of documents and send out a ton of emails to make absolutely sure everything is in order.

So, now that all that is taken care of, there are TWO more important things left to do *smashes head into wall*. But then that's it!

1. I have to get my student visa. Which I can't do because Kansai Gaidai hasn't sent my Certificate of Eligibility yet. I filled out and sent in the "Address Form" they emailed me (yes another form) so they are suppose to send it straight to my house. And they haven't yet. Grr.

2. I have to get all my vaccinations for the trip. This shouldn't be too hard to take care of, and I am going to try to do it very soon. Just got to get a hold of my medical records then call up Sage Medical at DePaul to make an appointment. I'm hoping they might have a better idea of what kinds of vaccinations I'll need, so far with my research I only know I have to get a vaccination for Japanese encephalitis. It's administered over a month (or 14 days if there isn't enough time) so I should probably go do that... Though the website I'm looking at says it's mostly for rural travelers which I won't be. But I'll get it to be safe. Who knows, I might go visit some rural areas, I will be in Japan for a while.

Sometime after July 10th I should also be getting a message telling me whether or not I will be staying with a host family. I really hope I will be. REALLY, REALLY hope. Being in dorm will make learning Japanese sooo much harder. Not to mention I'll have no one in the know to ask my millions of questions to. AND it will just suck in general! I've never stayed in a dorm before, but I haven't heard good things.

So that's all there is to report. My flight leaves on August 30th. So until about late August I will have nothing to do and nothing to report. I will try and update the blog anyway. Hey it's not like I have anything better to do. Seriously, I don't. This shall be my only distraction from Youtube, fanfiction, and my ever growing obsession with Star Trek.

So it occurs to me that I haven't updated in a while. Bad trend to start! I have actually done a lot of study abroad related things since I got accepted into the study abroad program at DePaul.
Apparently, I'm not "officially" studying abroad like I previously thought. I still have to be accepted by Kansai Gaidai, the Japanese university I will be attending through the program. I handed in all the forms to Kansai Gaidai May 1, which was a stressful process that I am glad is over with. Now I'm playing the waiting game AGAIN. It's frustrating, but there's nothing I can do. I also really want to know if I am going to receive the scholarships I applied for, because I kind of need them. It would also be nice to know the start date for the program so I can order plane tickets. There's a lot to worry about.

I've also gone to a few study abroad orientations, which were interesting. The one that included people who actually studied abroad in Osaka in previous years was the most helpful. There are also students from Kansai Gaidai studying abroad in America. They have been very nice and helpful, I try to talk to them (in Japanese) as often as possible.

In non-study abroad related news, tonight is the season 4 finale of Supernatural, which I am extremely excited and nervous about. I am going to be watching it with a few friends from school, which should be fun. Unfortunately, I have a cold so I am currently running on excitement alone. Well, that's it for me for today.

Update! Important Update!!

Just got this in an email today:

"Dear Study Abroad Applicant,
I am happy to inform you that you have been accepted to the 2009-2010academic year Study Abroad Program to Osaka. Your participation in thisprogram is an exciting opportunity for you to advance your academicinterests, expand your global identity, and explore some incrediblelocations. I am confident that you will be an excellent representativeof DePaul University while abroad."

=D I am so happy and excited and relieved and just feel good in general. It's finally official. I am going to Japan in the fall. Now I can get started with finding flight information, scholarships, recommendations, all the "fun" parts of the program. But it means I'm moving forward. Eee I'm so excited I don't even know what else to say.

Waiting...

Quick post since I haven't yet made a new one. Right now, I'm waiting for my class to start so I can present my beautiful website on the topic of, you guessed it, OSAKA! I pretty much try to incorporate Osaka in any class project ever. It's actually not that great of a website since I basically just threw it together a few days ago. I wasted most of my time working with a different concept and design that ultimately got scrapped. Here's the link if you want to check it out: students.depaul.edu/~jmedran4/first.htm
Be kind, I'm a beginner. And I plan to revamp it once I have more information to put in.

I'm also waiting to for school to finish so I can dash to the nearest Borders and buy Watchmen so I can read it again and again and again! I read it for the first time last week, then watched the movie and now I am in love. SO I am waiting for that. I need it! I want to read it on the way home today!

But really I'm waiting for confirmation that I am actually studying abroad this fall. I mean I really want to know so I can start preparing or change the name of the blog (I REALLY hope I won't have to do the latter). *whines* I know it's only been a week since the interview but I'm tired of waiting!

Well gotta go to class. I plan to present the hell out of my website.
*checks email incessantly for study abroad confirmation*

Hello. This is my first blog post, which should have been completed two days ago. Oh well.

The purpose of this blog is to document my future study abroad experience in Osaka, if you couldn't guess from the title. Keeping a journal or blog is a requirement for the study abroad program. I was suppose to start on Tuesday because that is when I had my interview for the program. That is sort of the first step to studying abroad and I was told I should document it. That is assuming I got it. The interview went very well in my opinion, so I am confident that I got in. It also helps that only four other people applied and there might be a spot for all of us. Hopefully that will be the case.

It was a pretty laid back interview. It was a group one so that made it a lot less nerve wracking. We were asked our academic goals and personal goals we wanted to achieve from a program, and why we chose Osaka, Japan. Since I had planned to go on this trip since high school and I am a Japanese Studies major, these questions were a breeze.

We also talked about what to expect in Japan. For example, Japanese people will openly stare at you if you are a foreigner. Also, Japanese people will be amazed if you know anything at all about their culture, like they'll be shocked if you can use chopsticks. The host families sound like fun as well. I'm really looking forward to this trip! :D

I'll be back soon to post some pictures from my neighborhood and DePaul.