For those that have read the previous post i’d like to mention that it was written because such a decision HAS arisen.  But before I mentioned anything I wanted to talk to the people involved.

So basically here’s the situation.  I’m sitting at work on Wednesday, doing my thing.  Then my mobile phone rings.  It’s Stephen from International Services who are organising my exchange to Kansai Gaidai in Japan. And he said he was calling to discuss my “flexibilty” in my exchange…  Now I recall when Mitch and I first decided to apply for an exchange to Japan, we asked Stephen what the chances were that we would be accepted, and Stephen said it depended on our “flexibility” ie. if we don’t get our first preference, we could always go to another university.

So here I am, on the phone to Stephen and he starts talking “flexibility”.  I mean at the time I was under the impression that Mitch and I had been accepted into Kansai Gaidai.  But due to my history of bad luck and the notion of “if-things-can-go-wrong-they-will”, I immediately started seeing my dream of exchanging to Kansai Gaidai dissapear before me.  Things that good generally are too good to be true and all within the second I heard him mention the word “flexibility” my heart sank.

I immediately started thinking what it could’ve been that set my exchange to Kansai Gaidai back?  Was it because of the bad experience Kansai Gaidai had with some IT Student before me?  Maybe because I hadn’t studied Japanese before this semester?  What would happen to my little Kansai Gaidai Blog I’ve got going here!? I figured the quickest way to find out what it is that was wrong would be to stop worrying, let time continue, and hear what Stephen had to say.

Flexible

1. capable of being flexed
2. yielding to influence
3. characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements

There are a few meanings to the word flexible.  Such as the three mentioned above from merriam-webster.com.  Then apparently other meanings could be:

• Jace can go to Japan if he doesn’t mind going to his 2nd preference of university, and
• Jace get’s screwed out of his Japan exchange

There’s a couple more that can be added to Websters.  Anyway, back to Stephen.  Which of those two new “flexibilty” definitions will he select?

So time starts back up again, and i get zapped back to Earth and on the phone to Stephen.  Here’s what he said (paraphrased):

“I was just wondering about your flexibility with your exchange to Japan.  You’ve been offered the JASSO Scholarship.  The catch is you must stay in Japan for a year.”

… … …

Well.. that was unexpected…  That wasn’t bad at all… In fact the complete opposite!  BUT, it did present me with the one thing I hate: A Decision.  Now it’s pretty important that you have read my last post on Surfer’s Paradise/Decisions.  I hate decisions.  ESPECIALLY big ones where there is no way to know the right decision.  I mean the JASSO Scholarship is huge.  Only a handful of people get it, it’s all paid in yen and yeah… wow.  This means i will be set for an entire year, it’s worth THAT much!  It would literally pay for all my expenses.  I think Mitch and I worked it out to be the equivalent of being paid $1000 a month, then i also get other payments for being a student from Australia.  So i’ll be getting $400+ (AUD Equivalent) a WEEK!  So that’s what i WOULD get should I accept.

But what about my bands???? My girlfriend??? Can I leave the things i love for so long without losing them??? So after work I went and talked to my gf, Amy.  She was on exchange in Belgium last year for the year.  She just got back in January.  I told her and she instantly said “YOU HAVE TO DO IT!!!” she was so excited for me.  She told me not to even think about her when deciding whether to do the exchange or not.  She said she doesn’t mind either way, she WANTS me to experience this.  I felt really happy after that.  She more or less took herself out of the equation and it made the decision a bit easier.

So between Wednesday and today (Sunday) I had decided to go.  I talked to the bands today and they surprisingly were quite ok with it, we all worked out what we’re gonna try to do to replace me, be it permanently or temporarily.  Oh that’s one other thing, i’ve accepted the fact that I may very well lose my position in the bands to someone else – but i made my decision to do Japan for the year and therefore am willing to take whatever consequences are thrown at me.  I made the bands aware of this too.

Before I knew it, the 3 big things I was worried (1 GF + 2 bands) about when making this decision virtually removed themselves out of the equation.  I really do appreciate it.  This is something I truly WANTED to do.  And i’m glad that I could make the decision with the support of the people who are disadvantaged by my decision.  It’s really made this decision easier, and i mean now it just feels right.  I know i will be able to go to Japan and enjoy myself without having any negative thoughts drifting in the back of my mind.

Oh another cool thing is that Mitch and the International guys (Stephen and Co.) are gonna work at bending the rules to get Mitch to stay for a year too!!!  So that will be really cool if we can rip up Japan together for the year.

Another definition for flexible:

• Jace’s dream comes true

Ciao for Now!