After two years at Florida International University (USA) I came to Ritsumeikan in September of 2009 as an exchange student to participate in the Study in Kyoto Program. In this program my main focus is studying the Japanese language, but I am also taking several Japan and World Perspectives (JWP) courses which are taught in English and complement my Japanese classes quite nicely. I even get to interact with Japanese students during these classes, which can be very interesting.

Outside of class I am also involved in an IAIDO circle here at Ritsumeikan. I started IAIDO in my junior year of high school back home, and am really happy I have been able to take it here in Japan. One of the biggest challenges of joining the IAIDO circle here at Ritsumeikan has been the fact that practices are run entirely in Japanese (there are some members that speak basic English, but in general classes are run in Japanese) so I find it a little hard to follow the verbal instructions from time to time. But because of this I find my Japanese improving with each practice, and am learning a lot of vocabulary I might not learn from the classroom alone.