What is the Kakehashi Project?

I know my last post was a bit of a blur.  I'm just too excited to be very coherent.

So you're probably wondering, what is the Kakehashi Project?  Well, according to the official website, the Kakehashi Project is "a fully-funded, large-scale youth exchange program between Japan and the United States."  The purpose is to pretty much promote Japan-US relationships and increase international understanding of the nation's strengths. As it says, it is fully funded, so it's almost as if I've gotten a scholarship to visit Japan for a brief period of time.  I can definitely do that.

I've always been interested in Japanese culture, ever since I was introduced to manga and anime.  That probably sounds bad, since weeaboos, also known as otakus and generally explained to be people obsessed with their limited exposure to Japanese culture, are looked down upon and viewed as annoying.  While there I hope to be very respectful.  I'm kind of glad that I won't be having a host family on this trip, as I'd hate to insult them in any way.  During the weeks prior to the trip I'll probably be reading up on a lot of Japanese culture, since it's painfully obvious I'm not going to have a great grasp on the language (I can introduce myself, say my year and major, talk about very vague interests, and ask what/where is that, but that's about it), but if I know more about the culture I'll probably be able to avoid a lot of embarrassment, right?  That's the idea, anyway.

Still, I'm so excited that I'll get to be able to go!  It's always been a place I've wanted to visit, so to be given this opportunity is a real honor, and I'm definitely going to make the most of it.

Preparation

I'm so excited! In May, I was nominated by my Japanese professor to go to Japan as a part of my university's Kakehashi Project, which is a sort of exchange program for undergraduates.  My professor had pulled two of my classmates and me aside after class to say that she was nominating us, and about a week and a half later, me and another classmate were selected to go to Japan! We were so worried because, while we were the best in our class, we were only in Japanese 101, and students from higher-level classes were being nominated as well, but I'm so happy that I'm being given this opportunity!

Right now I don't have much information at all on what we're supposed to do.  All that I really know is that pretty much everything that I can think of has been paid for, and that the trip starts on July 27.  I just got my passport a few days ago, and while I now have some clue of what we're going to be doing (I know that I'm supposed to present a 10 minute presentation on America and my university, for example), the details are a little shaky.

Hopefully more information will be coming in soon; when it does, I'll be sure to share some of it with you all.  I can't wait for it to begin!