It’s FINALLY here!!

Alright so here we go with The Road to Japan 2… where do we start… i know! at the end of TRTJ 1!

So yeah basically I had this checklist:

1. Apply at my University by 25th of September, 2008. Application process involves:
   • Selecting a University to apply to
   • Sort out transfer of Academic Credits whilst on exchange
   • Sort out all forms such as scholarship applications, student exchange forms, and get academic references
   • 1 x Passport Photo
   • Written proposal as to why I wish to study overseas (800-1000 words)
   • Print out academic history for submission
   • Interview to be held in January if my application is nominated for approval
2. apply for student visa/passport, book flights etc. (post approval stuff, think about that once i get accepted)
3. Save up money ($10,000 is the goal!)

And that was where the last instalment of TRTJ left off, between then and now I completed all of the first part and some of the second part.  I’ll run through that.

So my university of choice was Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka’s neighbouring city Hirakata.  It looks excellent, there are heaps of exchange students there so i’ll get to meet people from all over the world, and also the idea of living in Osaka seems quite nice to me.  Personally, in my opinion at this very moment, i would prefer Osaka to Tokyo.  Not that i wouldn’t love to go to Tokyo because I would! But Tokyo may be a little more westernized due to tourism etc.  Osaka may feel a little more traditional which is good.  One of the MANY reasons I want to go to Japan is because I want to experience a culture unlike anything I have experienced before, and I would like to experience it in its entirety.  I would prefer to surround myself with “eastern culture” as much as I can otherwise the trip would be pointless.

Sorting out my Academic Credits while i’ll be away actually turned out to be a nightmare.  Basically I did a Diploma in Games before I started University gave me 96 credit points – loosely 12 credit points = 1 subject.  Therefore I don’t have electives or Minors to do for my course.  Now I needed to at least gain 36 credit points towards my degree while i’m in Japan to be eligible ie. Credits for 3 classes.  However, Kansai Gaidai is a Business university, and I’m doing a Game Development Degree! Nothing at Kansai Gaidai would give me credits towards my degree.  So what i had to do was undo 36 of my credit points from my Diploma so that I could just do 3 random subjects at Kansai Gaidai and have them count to my degree.  Then I also need to study 1 semester of Japanese – So i had to undo another 12 credit points so i can study a japanese class next year before I go. Ok so, I already mentioned all that in TJTP 1, but here’s the issue!  My course co-ordinator signed me off for all of this, therefore my Academic Credits are all fine! but in the process she stuffed up my entire enrolment! I probably won’t finish my degree for another 3 years now! This was because for this all to work I had a to study a specific subject THIS semester, but she didnt tell me that and she just enrolled me into the regular subjects.  Therefore due to pre-requisites into other courses, and courses only being held in specific semesters, I probably won’t finish my degree till 2011… grr… but the Academic Credits are sorted… whatever… I’m going to Japan…

So scholarship forms, Academic history and student exchancge forms were no problem, just filled/printed them out… nothing special…

However the Academic References were a fun scenario.  We had a tutor last semester who stopped teaching our class half way trough the semester due to family reasons, but he was really cool and Mitch and I just assumed he liked us lol So we asked him if we could get have him be our reference.  He said Ok, and we met at our favourite Japanese place, ate a great meal, he drilled us with questions – Reference successful!  The 2nd Academic Reference was Mitch and I’s Database tutor – See when Mitch and I are in the same class, we have a field day resulting in the tutor laughing and having a good time then yeah, i guess they like us.  We also do all the work too so that’s always a plus.  So we got that tutor to give us a reference too.  Awesome!

Passports! Ok well passports are actually in part 2, but we needed passport photo’s for our application to Japan so we thought we’d knock over the actual Passports too.  The passport application process was fairly generic… fill out the forms, get the photos, 2 weeks later you get a passport.  And that’s what we did.  But the process is sooooo anal.  So we had to make sure we had the exact documents.  Like Mitch had to prove his mother was an Australian Citizen at the time of his birth because Mitch didn’t own a passport after August 1, 2000.  RANDOM.  So he got declined the first time, but all was fine the next day.

Haha proposals! they were fun to write, because the proposal had to be 800-1000 words! It was very difficult to write! Like how do you write 800 words on why you want to go to japan. “Because I really really really really…. … … *800 words later* really want to go to Japan” lol So I finished mine and i was very happy with mine, Mitch on the other hand thought it was pretty ridiculous and pretty much made fun of the whole process.  I was telling him it was a bad idea, but he was like “Meh”…. anyway, come time to submit, Mitch read over it again and goes “I better re-write it” – DAMN STRAIGHT! But he couldn’t! So i re-wrote it for him lol And i did a killer job too.

So that’s all the documents i needed, it was fun getting them together.  And everytime I got something done would get totally excited about Japan.  So i submitted it all, so did Mitch and it was the waiting game from there on out.

Ok so the deadline was September 25, we were told that if we went to the International Services at uni we could get numbers on how many people applied to Kansai Gaidai, because they only send 2 or 3 people we just wanted an idea of what our chances were.  So we did, but they didn’t have the numbers.  And we kept going back, while I was in Melbourne Mitch would go in and they never had the numbers or the guy we were dealing with was on holidays.  So we just left it for a while.  But yesterday while I was at my band’s Mastering session I got a text from Mitch – 2 people applied to Kansai Gaidai! Mitch and I! WE’RE GOING!! Well… that’swhat i think.  It’s not official.  2 other’s applied for Kansai Gaidai as their 2nd preference, but Mitch and I applied for it as our first, so we get preference over them – besides, they’ll probably go to their first preference anyway.

So all we need now is to do the interviews – which ISN’T in January, it’s some time soon actually, within the next couple of weeks.  So as long as I don’t completely blow that it should be fine.  But I seriously don’t see how i would, I have legitimate reason to go to Japan, im not a criminal or anything, not a trouble maker, it’s all gonna be fine.

So i guess nothing is definite, i’m most likely getting ahead of myself, but it’s seriously looking excellent for Mitch and I.  But not much we can do now… just wait…

Ciao for now!