My Unexpected Japan Trip

Last school year, an announcement sent to my sections group chat piqued my interest. I vividly remember the moment I read the first words of the message which said “Do you want to be part of the student exchange program in NIT-Akashi College, Japan?”. I immediately remembered the stories my parents told me about when they were both sent to different countries to study and learn more about their respective fields.

To be honest, after reading the message and seeing the requirements, I kinda forgot about the whole thing until our class president announced it in front of the class a few weeks later. I told my parents about the program and they were fully supportive of me joining the program even though I really didn’t think that I’ll be able to go due to the seemingly “difficult” requirements. In reality, I was just too exhausted to add more into my already long list of requirements since we were already in the middle of the 3rd term when the program was announced.

After talking with my parents and thinking it through, I decided that I really did want to join the program and after days of procrastination, I made my abstract that was about the potential uses of applying the concept of robotics and artificial intelligence to the concept of automation which

would help improve the quality of our lives. The abstract really wasn’t a masterpiece but I was proud of it and it was something that I was genuinely interested in.

A few days pass, and our president announces the students who were moving on to the interview part of the application, I wasn’t really confident that moment but to my astonishment, my name was right there on the list. It was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one

It is currently less than a week before we leave for Japan and I am full of excitement for the next days ahead of me. I am looking forward to meet the people of different cultures and as well as share our culture with them.