I always wanted to go outside of my comfort zone and experience new things. And when I was made aware that there was a scholarship opportunity for studying in Japan, I was very interested in it since it was a great chance to study abroad, not just visiting a country for a couple of days, but actually finding out what a different culture is like and live there.So I think that's what made me interested in it.

Well, I'd always been interested in linguistics. When I was researching what universities I could potentially go to, I noticed that at the University of Tsukuba, Professor Ikeda Jun specializes in Semitic languages, Hebrew and Acadian. I never knew someone who specialized in those languages before. Usually, linguistics is very centered around European languages such as 365体育投注, German, Spanish and Italian. But there aren't many researchers who are interested in other, more niche languages.

So, when I saw that he was doing that type of research I was interested because I wanted to see if there was something more about linguistics and I wanted to see what linguistics was like when it came to other languages, as well.

It was nice. It was very different from Tokyo where I had lived one year. The scholarship program I was in basically had me study for one year in the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. After graduating from that program, based on my grades I was able to enter into the University of Tsukuba.

When I moved to Tsukuba, it was very different because there was a lot more space and the whole city was more open. There were fewer people and the campus was quite big compared to that of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. So I enjoyed it quite a lot. I could go to Mount Tsukuba and I could take long walks. And the weather was really nice because it wasn't that hot during the summer in comparison with Tokyo.

I was able to make friends. During the first two years I lived in two different dormitories, Ichinoya and Hirasuna. After that I moved to an apartment, where I lived until I graduated. The dorms were quite small, but there were a lot of other students close by, so it was a fun experience.

And then, when I lived by myself I managed to make other friends, as well. So even though there isn't that much to do in school by yourself, if you have friends you can definitely have fun and enjoy your time.

I think I decided to stay in Japan maybe when I was a second-year student in Tsukuba.

I decided to do so because I enjoyed the society of Japan. I liked how people are generally pleasant and how they respect each other. And I thought that it was definitely a place where I wanted to stay for longer and wanted to explore more of. I wanted to learn more and travel more. So I am quite happy with where I am and I definitely want to continue living here.

I think it's hard because if you don't graduate with a degree that is very specialized and technical, your options would be limited.

So, if you're a foreigner who has graduated with a degree in the humanities, it might be a little bit difficult. But if you've entered a university with physics or programming, finding a job would be much easier, I think.

Therefore, for me, it was slightly harder but at the same time it's not like there weren't any offers or anything like that.

As I said, because I studied linguistics I was interested in language and communication. So working at a hotel would allow me to practice that in reality and talk to people from various places all around the world.

On the one hand I wanted to improve myself, like my linguistic skills and my communication skills. But on the other hand, I thought that working at a hotel would give me room for growth. Working in a hotel I think is an option that has a longer career path.

I think it's when I see how satisfied customers are when providing good service.

When they ask something, when they're lost and when they don't know what to do, then I am able to assist them. I think that's something that I really enjoy doing.

I'd say it's being able to work in a big team.

Because you can't do everything by yourself, you have to rely on other people, but everyone is different and they do things their own way. So, you need to be able to fit into a larger system. Sometimes it's not easy to do so.

Oh yes, it is different from Tsukuba.

On the one hand because I'm back in Tokyo I think I have more options for things to do. If I want, on my day off I can go anywhere I want in Tokyo because there are so many places to visit and so many museums and attractive places to go to. So that's one thing.

But on the other hand, there's not that much nature so there aren't many places you can go to and just relax. There aren't that many large parks and whatnot to go to, which is different from Tsukuba.

That's something I think I miss but there are so many people in Tokyo to meet, so I enjoy meeting new people and making friends. I definitely think that that's also a plus and I generally like it here.

I think what I like the most is that people understand that in order to make a functioning society you have to be respectful of other people and not to be too selfish.

And the result of that is that everyone can live in a pretty content manner without any interruption from the outside.

Whereas in other countries I think people are quite self-centered, not in a bad way necessarily, but still, personal freedom is something that's very highly valued and that can lead to trouble because everyone wants to do things their way and then that leads to conflict.

Whereas in Japan, I feel that people are generally more concerned about how other people are dealing with things, and whether or not the actions of one person are detrimental to someone else.

I think that the most important aspect of living in an environment which is culturally different from one's own is to constantly remind yourself of that. If you avoid making the error of misunderstanding that you share the same cultural values with everyone else around, it is easier to notice the differences. From there, it's a question of understanding these differences, and I don't think that there is a better way of doing so than talking to people. These conversations can be extremely interesting and are, incidentally, a great way of making friends abroad.