File :-(, x, )
Gap Year Abroad Anonymous
sup /trv/lers, I'm seriously considering taking a gap year after I graduate high school this year. Assuming my college lets me, I'd go to Tokyo with the CIEE program and basically be some sorta super senior at a Japanese high school. Benefits are that I don't really need to maintain grades and I can just focus on language acquisition.
Right now I'm thinking I'd do only one semester and that way I can get a job for the rest of the year.

FYI, I *have* been to Japan before for a homestay so A) I know what it's fuckin' like to do one and B) inb4weeaboo.

Do any anons recommend gap years or will I be buttfucked when I go to college for some reason? While I don't plan to major in anything Japan-related, I am thinking about doing JET, and with competition increasing in the application process, I figure having a study abroad experience would look good.
>> Anonymous
>Taking a "gap year" in between high school and college generally will make me jealousy

fix'd
>> Anonymous
>be some sorta super senior at a Japanese high school
More likely that everyone will think you are super dumb.
>> Anonymous
OP here
>>55026
probably, considering they think all foreigners are dumb.
>> Anonymous
>Tokyo

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

GO SOMEWHERE NEW FAGGOTS
>> Anonymous
>>55032
Tokyo is the only option. and FYI, I spent all of 1 day in Tokyo (and only at the Fuji Television building + train system) when I went last time, so yes it would be somewhere new to me.
>> Anonymous
bump for gap year info.
>> Anonymous
OP here.
Could anyone tell me if they thought it was hard taking a year off from school and then jumping into college? The only thing I'm worried about is having to play catch up for math and maybe compsci.
>> Anonymous
>>55018
Check immigration into Japan before you get all jacked up on...nothing.
>> Anonymous
>>55366
wat?
>> Anonymous
OP again.
I'm still undecided about this. I'm mostly worried about retaining knowledge for calculus and computer science which I will theoretically get credit for and place out of the level one college courses. I guess I could review during the second half of the year but heck, I forget tons of shit over the summer and that's only 3 months long.

Then again, this could be one of those "once in a lifetime opportunities" that people always talk about (even though I've been to Japan before) and maybe I should just fuckin do it. I guess I could always just start in the intro level courses and be a bit ahead of the game. Fuck, please give me more details /trv/.
>> Anonymous
>>55535

JET won't hire a computer science hikikomori to teach English to the youth of Japan.
>> Anonymous
>>55542
obvious troll is obvious.
>> Anonymous
>>55542

I don't know, anon. I've heard a few stories from folks rejected for even so much as hinting at any sort of nerdy indulgence.
>> Anonymous
OP here.
>>55546
I think it's just they don't want any "hikikomori"s aka someone socially awkward. Maybe if you go to a shit college would they think you're a failure, but that shouldn't be a problem for me.

Also, if I wanted to know about JET I would have posted in the JET mega-thread, but thanks for the "advice" anyways poster 55542.

Is there really no one here that has done a gap year?
>> Anonymous
OP again, this will probably be my last post regarding info about gap years.

I guess I've come to a surprising revelation after thinking about my next 4-10 years and I think I've begun to lose some of my weeabooness (yes I'll admit it, I must be somewhat of one if I wanted to go to Japan this bad).

A) Japan is fun, but at least from what I've seen personally and read about, requires a fuck ton of work to adapt to the language (and with that the culture).
B) If I were to do this, my future prospects in Japan wouldnt be very high anyways unless I become completely fluent (teacher? translator? - neither are what I truly want to do).
C) I would always be an outsider, and while this makes for good times for short trips, there is no way this is beneficial in the long run.

These are sobering thoughts but probably realistic ones. Maybe I've been looking at this from too much of a wapanese perspective and I realize now that Japan is much better for short term "vacations" if you will such as a college semester abroad for a fun, independent social life. A high school semester abroad wouldn't be able to touch that kind of freedom with a 10ft pole. This was some sorta therapeutic post.
>> Anonymous
http://web.mac.com/tokyocooney/HereIsJapan/Home.html

Read his blogs. He's been in Japan for a good seven years and still going strong.

The problem is too many people who visit/live in Japan always see themselves from the context of a foreigner. I think if you can just let that shit go, the experience becomes much more fulfilling.
>> Anonymous
OP here
>>55706
thanks anon, I'm just trying to not get ahead of myself with dreams of living a dual life in Japan. I still love Japan and would love to go back but I don't think I need to live there to enjoy it.
I'm still very mixed about all this and how I should go about experiencing Japan in the future. The problem is my first trip set the bar so high I don't think I'll be able to ever match it. Thanks for the encouragement and I'll take a look.

I will continue to brood over my future but there are so many doors open to me, both here in the US and Japan.
>> Anonymous
>>55709
Hawaii bitch do you know it?
>> Anonymous
>>55023
Debt. It boils down to debt.
Japan isn't very cheap and neither is college in general.
>> Anonymous
OP again.
>>55817
Yea I think I'm trying to bite off more then I can chew here. More importantly I just discovered that I would *not* be attending a high school but would be enrolled in 20hrs/week of Japanese at a language school. I'd say 2/3 of the reason I wanted to do this was to meet other Japanese kids and be in a Japanese school environment. Seems like gap year is off the table for me for now. Probably better so I can try to save some monies for future trips to Japan.
>> Anonymous
wheres a good place to go for the fall?
>> Anonymous
>>55018
>basically be some sorta super senior at a Japanese high school.
>be some sorta super senior
>sorta super senior
>super senior

Grats OP, you iz teh dumbest purson on 4chan.

Also, taking a year off generally fucks you over if you don't go to school. So as long as your in school then it's ok.
>> Anonymous
>FYI, I *have* been to Japan before for a homestay so A) I know what it's fuckin' like to do one and B) inb4weeaboo.
I was just about to sage this thread and call you a weeaboo faggot. I'm glad I read this. Sorry about thinking you were some retarded white kid. And sorry you have a small penis.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
OP here.
>>55885
Glad to entertain anon.
>>55918
I see what you did there.

Well since this is all sorted out now I'll leave this thread up for a few more hours and then trash it.
Here's a thank you in the form of a .jpg for those of you that had some worthwhile input.