My story

I grew up in a poor village in Fukuoka, Japan. All of our family was in the same town, and I barely ever left Kyushu island other than the school trip in my high school and a few family trips.

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I was studying for years to get in a medical school to become a pharmacist, but “wait, what is the point of this?” I realized that my life was becoming like a cheesy novel with a predictable ending. That was the summer of senior year in high school. I started to look for colleges in the states, and told the school and my family that I wasn’t going to a Japanese university. They were shocked. My choice did not make them happy and many tried to scold and convince me not to go. But I didn’t care. “If you haven’t studied abroad yourself, how would you know what mine would look like?”

That’s how I put myself into this international journey. The best decision I’ve ever made.