Personal Development
In terms of gains, I believe I have got to meet a lot more people outside of my own field of study, and languages for that matter. Being able to interact in a multi-cultural experience allowed me to appreciate the various differences that exist between myself and other people. Not only that, but I was able to experience the vastly different locations of Japan and enjoy the culture of each individual place.
Professional Development
For professional skills, I would argue that I have increased my overall resourcefulness throughtout the trip. Since I had to do everything myself, this meant that I had a lot of opprotunity to reflect on myself, and to experience opportunities to look into some career options at Osaka Uni. Other than this, I had some opportunities to do some volunteer activities, such as park cleaning.
Academic Development
From this experience, I believe I was able to widen my understanding of different types of programs and subjects outside of my own. Some of the challenges I have faced throughtout the experience was the lack of experience in subjects. Generally I have received help from those who had a better understanding to help with my studies, and that has helped out a lot. As for workload, some of the subjects were hard, but others were much less intensive, so it ended up being a mixed bag.
Budget
Generally with budgeting I managed by trying to stick to groceries, or take public transportation whenever possible. It's always a good idea to reduce the amount of trips necesary from place to place as that dramatically reduces costs.
Highlight
The general highlight of the trip was the part where everyone went to Hiroshima. Going there for the first time allowed me to experience many things that I wouldn't have, such as the atomic bomb muesum, Itsukushima Shrine, and hiroshima styled okonomiyaki. Other highlights included participating in the universities fair and generally hanging out with many of the global village people.
