JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN

A little over a year ago I was browsing Facebook and came across a photo album by an acquaintance from high school who I never talk to. His younger brother was leaving on study abroad for Japan, and there were pictures from goodbye parties and airport photos, and I suddenly realized that every single time I heard about someone leaving on study abroad--but especially if it was a Japanese American friend going to Japan--I felt incredibly, incredibly jealous. I'm a little embarrassed that instead of having a more positive reason, I basically decided to go to Japan for fear of feeling this way every time someone mentioned going abroad for the rest of my life, but that was when I started looking into study abroad options. When it turned out that the Japanese programs didn't work very well with my major and minor, I found out about JET, waited, applied, and a year later here I am.

(Pro tip for those applying next year: You will have a story like this too. Don't put that crap in your application essay because no one at the embassy gives a shit. Save it for a blog post when you get in so your friends and family can act like they care.)

So most of you know by now that I've been accepted to the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program and am going to Japan on July 25, in a little under three months. I don't know yet where I am going, what grade level I'll be teaching, whether I'll be driving or what my housing will be like (though I know I'll live alone). I do know that my airfare to Japan will be paid by JET, that I'll spend three days at orientation in Tokyo before traveling by bus, train or plane to my future home, and that I'm going to meet some fucking awesome people who went through every step of this crazy process with me in person for the first time. I also know what my pay will be, and let me tell you I am less stressed now than I have been since I was laid off from my office job while still in school.

I'll remain Hella Angeleno in spirit, but I'll have to think of a new name for my blog while I'm in Japan. I seriously considered "Not a White Guy in Japan," but I think that may have seemed like a much better idea after three beers.