I lived in Japan for 11 months, almost 1 year of my life I spent in the country of the rising sun, and it is the best decision I could have ever taken. They say that traveling changes people but making a strange country your home is something that I would had never imagined I could do. Even though I am now 11,308 km away from this country I still can call it my home.
Not did I only learn a lot while studying there but I also changed and grew up as a person. Being away from your home, family and friends for such a great amount of time makes you value things you take for granted but it also makes you learn stuff that you couldn’t possibly imagine. It opens your mind and if you are lucky enough you meet people that change your world and stay in your heart forever because for that period of time they become your family and your home.
But not everything was sweet at the beginning – the most difficult part of it was not being able to communicate with others the first few days. I had the wrong idea that “Everyone speaks English” and realized it not like that when you go to the other side of the world. But I am really thankful that I had to struggle like this because it made me move away from my comfort zone, get scared, know myself a lot and manage how to behave in stressful situations.
Japan has a lot of great things but what surprised me the most is the kindness of the people that live there, everyone lives their life thinking about others and that is something that really makes me miss this country each day even more.
From always saying sumimasen which translates to sorry for every mistake, even the smallest one. To saying arigatou which means thank you, every time you bought something in a store, this type of details really make a difference in a someone’s life.
I will forever be thankful for everything that Japan thought me and showed me because it made me the person that I am today and it opened my eyes to a whole different world.
