The time I had in Japan was like no other. I had never been to another country before, so it was doubly exciting and anxiety-inducing to get on that plane which would whisk me away for the next 5 months. While in Japan, I was able to take language classes

and interact with Japanese people like I never would have been able to in the States. Furthermore, I was able to take classes about the culture, and even practice a few forms of traditional martial arts as well as traditional arts. I even joined the tea ceremony club and performed at the local history and culture museum with other club members! I was able to see many different famous Japanese locations, make lifelong friends, and just overall have the time of my life in my study abroad trip. And honestly, I'm dying to go back.

Nagasaki was once the only port open for foreigners which has influenced what it is today. It has an incredible history which you will learn about during orientation class and in some classes. There are many sites to see around the city such as Dejima

(an island that the Dutch were restricted to), Glover Garden (homes of foreigners), and Chinatown (Chinese immigrants lived), and much more. Due to these influences they have some amazing food that you can't get anywhere else! What I thought was nice about this city compared to the other locations is that it is not a big tourist destination and I rarely saw any other foreigners besides the other students in the program. A lot of locals would talk to me about what I was doing there and how I liked it and where curious since they don't see many foreigners there so it led to more conversation. I would highly recommend doing a homestay. That was my most memorable part. Coming home every night to a wonderful meal and some activities or trips with my family really made it special. I also liked that English is not as well-spoken in this area compared to other regions of Japan, but I was able to communicate with body language and broken English/Japanese so I was able to practice my Japanese. The buses and schedules did not have any English translation on them so you have to memorize the kanji that is one it. I felt like I was more immersed here because of that and it was more authentic due to low tourism in the area. Since the area is very mountainous, the public transportation system is not as developed as other parts of Japan so if you are looking for a location where you can travel around Japan easily I would recommend another program. I thought the city had good transportation but if you want to go to other parts of Kyushu it is more difficult, but there is a bus to Fukuoka which is easily accessible. My host family also took me around places and also helped me with finding buses since the website and information was not offered in English so that is also a benefit of a host family, or even a friend might be able to help! The academic I felt weren't challenging and there was not a lot of homework where I felt I would have liked it to be a little more rigorous. However my school and major is very difficult and I have a lot of homework where some students from other schools didn't feel that way so it just depends on what your home university is like. I really enjoyed the culture classes and I thought the Japanese program was excellent, although I can't compare because I have never taken Japanese or a language in college.

Nagasaki was once the only port open for foreigners which has influenced what it is today. It has an incredible history which you will learn about during orientation class and in some classes. There are many sites to see around the city such as Dejima

(an island that the Dutch were restricted to), Glover Garden (homes of foreigners), and Chinatown (Chinese immigrants lived), and much more. Due to these influences they have some amazing food that you can't get anywhere else! What I thought was nice about this city compared to the other locations is that it is not a big tourist destination and I rarely saw any other foreigners besides the other students in the program. A lot of locals would talk to me about what I was doing there and how I liked it and where curious since they don't see many foreigners there so it led to more conversation. I would highly recommend doing a homestay. That was my most memorable part. Coming home every night to a wonderful meal and some activities or trips with my family really made it special. I also liked that English is not as well-spoken in this area compared to other regions of Japan, but I was able to communicate with body language and broken English/Japanese so I was able to practice my Japanese. The buses and schedules did not have any English translation on them so you have to memorize the kanji that is one it. I felt like I was more immersed here because of that and it was more authentic due to low tourism in the area. Since the area is very mountainous, the public transportation system is not as developed as other parts of Japan so if you are looking for a location where you can travel around Japan easily I would recommend another program. I thought the city had good transportation but if you want to go to other parts of Kyushu it is more difficult, but there is a bus to Fukuoka which is easily accessible. My host family also took me around places and also helped me with finding buses since the website and information was not offered in English so that is also a benefit of a host family, or even a friend might be able to help! The academic I felt weren't challenging and there was not a lot of homework where I felt I would have liked it to be a little more rigorous. However my school and major is very difficult and I have a lot of homework where some students from other schools didn't feel that way so it just depends on what your home university is like. I really enjoyed the culture classes and I thought the Japanese program was excellent, although I can't compare because I have never taken Japanese or a language in college.