The journey

I believe that the most influential journey I have ever taken is the one I’ve been taking right now. When I was in 9th grade, I had a strong desire of being different environment since I knew that I would be a huge slacker if I went to the high school where I was supposed to go. Therefore I decided to come to the school in the U.S.. It was inexplicably hard at the beginning, but the community had taught me so many things. First of all, I learned English. Learning language is crucial to communicate with others and also to be confident, so as I learned English, I overcame my shyness. That learning of English experience have provided me the most important opportunities of life; meeting with people from all over the world and get to know them. Because of this diverse country, I was able to witness so many unique traditions of different countries. There are so many times when I was amazed by their traditional dances and songs, shocked by unequal rights of males and females, and confused by weird-looking smelly foods. All these experiences have allowed me to gain alternate perspectives in politic, religion, and social. The more I witnessed was the more I absorbed. Now I can see the world totally different than I did before I came here. The interaction with people from different backgrounds also made me realize the others perspectives on Japan. Just like I was ignorant to the other cultures, I’ve noticed a lot of misconceptions about Japan and Asian countries existing in the U.S., which is sometimes understandable but sometimes offensive. Prejudice interfere people from learning actual faces of the cultures around the world and the only way is to do that is by experiencing with myself. This is what I learned in this journey and I am sure that this has given and will give me significant moments in my life.