Well, I talkedtomyJapaneseteacheraboutonce a studyabroadinJapanandthatshe's theonethatreferredmetoourinternationalcenterandfromtheirinternationalcenter.
Sincemostschoolsusuallyhavesisterschoolswithschoolsanddifferentcountry, I cameheretoTokyo, so I studiedhereforoneyearJapaneseinJapaneseculture.
Yeah, thatwashow I startedoff.
I wasenrolledintheuniversityinCanada, andthen I justwenttotheInternationalCenterandaskedthemwhatkindofprogramstheyhaveforcomingtoJapan.
Andtheygaveme a listof, I think, threeschoolstochoosefrom.
Um, and I justchosetocomeherefor a oneyearJapaneselanguageprogramtostartoffwith, and I wasplanningongoinghome, but I reallylikedit.
So I stayedhereand I transferredtotheuniversity.
ButhavingthatoneyearexperiencehereinjusttheJapaneselanguageprogram, I madelotsofconnections, a university, and I thinkitmademytransferprocess a loteasier.
Thepeopleintheofficewerewillingtohelpmeoutwhen I hadproblemswiththeforms I wasfillingoutandstuff.
And, um, I thinkitwasjust a goodideatocomeherefortheshortprogramtostartoffwith, justtoseeifyoulikeitandtobuildthoseconnectionswiththeschool.
Youcantransferdirectlyinto a Japaneseuniversityifyouwantto, but I feelliketheprocesswouldbemoredifficult.
Sopersonally, I recommendcomingherefor a shortexchangeprogramtostartoutfoot.
IstuitioninJapanreallyexpensive?
Especiallysinceyou're a foreigner.
Well, actually, theschoolwewentthiotheygaveus a discountbecausewewereforeigner, myuniversityinCanada.
Ourschoolheregave a discounttoforeignstudents, so I'm notsureifit's likethateverywhereinJapan, itcouldhavejustthentheschoolwewentto, butit's possiblethatitis.
Whenwefirstcame, therewere, I thinkmaybethreeorfourdifferentsmokingareas, likedesignatedsmokingareas, butthey'vebroughtitdowntoonenow, so I thinkthey'reeventuallytryingtophaseitoutcompletely.