Steph in Japan

For some great ideas, check out these great tips and sites!

• Bring (or memorize) a recipe and cook your host family a meal to say thank you. Make sure it’s a recipe which you can find all the ingredients in the region you’re traveling. For an idea as well as a funny story read, “She Cooks Meatballs In Japan”, a hilarious story about trying to cook a meal in Japan.

 

• Bring photos of yourself and postcards of your home town to leave behind as a reminder of your visit.

• So, general tip, as much as you will prepare for studying abroad you will still get here and wish you had left more at home, brought more gifts, researched more… no matter how long you have been planning the trip. But don’t worry, it’s all fun!

• Make sure to get extra memory for your camera before you come

• Also, leave more at home than you want to bring. I am learning the hard way that you can buy almost anything you’d need in your study abroad country. Then you can go home and when you wear/use it you can say “Oh, I got this in… (say for example)… Japan”  <— what’s a better souvenir?

• Start researching where you want to study abroad in freshman year. As well, I recommend to try and decide where you are going to study abroad then as well. For more information on when to study abroad, please read my thoughts on what time is the best time.

• A great site, STA Blog is one of my favorties sites to check for updates and great advice. This blog post is particularly good because it hits on a lot of the things most study abroad students forget to think about.