After all the nice celebrating and what have you associated with getting into IP and having the opportunity to be able to study in Japan for a year at Waseda University in Tokyo, there were more things to be done. At the very least I had found the path and the only way I could lose my way would be through my own actions or in-actions. For as of then, the opportunity to study in Japan was mine to lose and no longer theirs to give. At this point my classes were not yet complete, so I still had to focus on getting those classes done and doing well, after all the reality of the here and now still keeps on moving forward. Being accepted though had brought upon me more paperwork and an orientation to attend. Thus the next step was to gather the required paperwork that required more immediate attention.
(Link to where the paperwork was to be found)
First I was required to start work on the form packet required for my Japan trip and send in a confirmation form as to what orientation I would attend. There would be orientations at San Jose SU and CSU Long Beach, both are a wee bit of a drive away from Bakersfield, but Long Beach was definitely closer and thus my choice. Orientation would take place on May 8th and I would gain a bit more depth of knowledge about the program I would embark upon.
But before Orientation, there was some much needed paperwork to be done! Various forms confirming my participation, health, housing preference, financial situation, and academic plan needed to be taken care of and I set out to gather all that I needed. These forms weren’t as bad as the forms I was flooded by when I was attempting to get into the program, but paperwork is hardly ever an entertaining endeavor. If there was one thing that stuck out though, it was how many passport photos I needed to have. At the end of all this paper work I’ve had to get well over 10 passport photos.
So I manage to get all the paperwork done that was needed by the May 15th deadline, put it in an envelope and took it with me to orientation to drop it off with the necessary people. I drove up to Long Beach with another person who had been accepted into the program for Spain and had a good time with him. We both got excited once the orientation got started, as it started to make all the stuff seem real. The orientation was actually a bit of a teaser, since we knew we had to go back to our current lives afterward. I learned while I was there that the Japan program I had gotten into was supposed to be extremely competitive and hard to get into, and more than one person drove that point home. It really made me proud of the effort I put in. When all was said and done, I had made it through orientation and came out knowing a bit more than before I came.