A New Awakening

by D’Juan McGee

Editor’s Note: University of Charleston Master of Business Administration and Leadership (MBAL) student D’Juan McGee recently set off to study abroad at Kansai University in Amagaisaki, Japan. He is blogging about his adventures from across the world for “The UC Experience.”

As I was sitting in the Tacoma-Seattle Airport waiting to board my plane to Japan I looked around the room to see who might be that lucky person sitting next to me on the plane. When I got on the plane I noticed the plane was not full and I would be getting a seat all to myself.  Apart from my TV screen going out 1 hour into my flight this was the best 11-hour plane ride I’ve ever experienced. Landing in Osaka was a little traumatizing. Just imagine looking out the window and thinking that your plane is going to land in the water and then all of a sudden “There’s a runway.”

Getting through customs was very easy however getting my bags was a challenge. My greatest fear has always been losing my bags and needless to say one of my bags didn’t make it to Japan that day. Standing there looking puzzled as to why my other bag didn’t show up on the turntable I cautiously approached the Delta customer service and asked them what happened to my other bag. I soon found out my other bag was in Hawaii!! How did it get to Hawaii? I will never know.

The attended assured me that it will arrive in two days and that the airport will personally mail it to Kansai University in Amagaisaki, Japan. After sorting out that I met up with Rina San who was patiently waiting for me at the arrival gate and we headed off to Kansai University. While riding on a bus headed to Osaka I meet a high school student that was learning English and just got back from a study abroad program in Korea. I was very impressed with her English skills.

The University is located in the middle of Amagaisaki behind a huge department store. My first impression of the school was “Wow I would LOVE to attend school here.”  The students and staff are very nice and most of them know how to speak English. I love the sound of the bell that signals when classes start and finish. It is a very pleasant sound.  Since I missed the orientation day, because of a 10 hour layover in Seattle, I went to meet all of my fellow participants in the program in our first class session.

The class was very intimidating at first because I felt like I step into an advance Japanese class. I slowly begin to notice that some students were very good and some students like me were like a fish out of water. After taking a quick tour around the school I was introduced to a room called the English Lab where you could only speak English. I quickly made friends with everyone in there because I knew that we could help each other with Japanese and English.

My accommodation is amazing. I am staying in Nada Japan which is a 20-minute train ride from Kansai University and there are a lot of foreigners that live in my building. My first night there I was freezing because I didn’t know how to work the heat.

I’m looking forward to all the new things I will be learning here in Japan. So until next time.. Ja mata (See you Later).

To learn more about the UC MBAL program, visit: www.ucwv.edu/business/mbal