...your passport arrives two weeks to the day after you applied for it.
(And yes, this post is therefore something like a month late. The back-to-school season will do that to a person.)
The best news is, yup, I now have my passport book and card in my possession, and am now eligible for international air, land, and water travel. The other news is that I'm working on applying directly to the college in Japan now, and that's well underway. The application requires two recommendation letters (one should be from a teacher of Japanese you've taken classes with before, if possible), a health form (rather obvious), an essay of intent (explaining why you want to study in Japan), a questionnaire about your previous experience with the Japanese language, a photocopy of the ID page of your passport and any visas therein for previous trips to Japan, official college transcripts, and 4 identification photographs (which must adhere to the very strict policies put in place by the Japanese immigration authority). If you study at a school other than Kansai Gaidai, there's a good chance your application requirements will be different. You'll likely have to send in the 4 photos, though, so be certain they comply with all of the requirements, including the size requirement. I ended up getting extra photos from the passport photo booth at the county recorder's office (boy, were they excited to see me again) and cutting them down to size using a pair of scissors and a good old-fashioned ruler.
Anyway, I've got nearly all of the elements of that application put together. All I have left to do is go to the doctor this Friday to get my health form filled out, and Saturday morning I'll be sending the application to Japan using Priority International Mail (which costs something like $30+ from what I currently understand, so be prepared for sticker shock if and when you do the same).
The other application I'm currently working on (and have finished, minus a couple of essays) is the one for the Gilman Grant. The Gilman Grant is a program created to enable low-income students receiving the federal Pell Grant to study abroad during their undergrad years. The Grant offers up to $5000 in funding, but if you're studying a critical-need language in a country that primarily speaks that language and plan to use that language in your future career, you could be eligible for up to $8000 in funding. (Since I don't specifically plan to use Japanese in my future career, I am not eligible for the Critical Need Language grant, but that's alright.) The Grant is fairly competitive, and not everyone who applies is guaranteed to get funding from it. However, it's a good way to try to offset some of the costs of studying abroad if you're also from a low-income background like me.
One of the other things about the Gilman Grant is that you have to have some sort of project you do in conjunction with receiving it, in order to encourage other students to study abroad (specifically through the use of a Gilman Grant). Well, surprise!--this blog is what I plan to submit for that project. No fears; even if I'm not accepted for the Grant, I fully plan to continue writing and updating this blog both now and while I'm abroad. If I am accepted for the Grant, though, there will be mentions of it in many of my posts, and I'll also add a post going more in-depth in explaining how to apply for the Grant. And once I get back home, there will likely be a post thanking the Gilman Grant and the people who offer it for helping me reach my study-abroad goals and dreams. This doesn't mean the blog would start being nothing but a huge advertisement for the Gilman Grant (though there'd be no shame in that, either). It just means that I'd be mentioning it often in the hopes of encouraging other students with financial backgrounds similar to mine to apply for the Grant. That way, hopefully more students would be able to experience studying abroad, rather than having to opt not to due to financial limitations.
Well, that's an update on where I am in my journey to Japan and Hirakata. T-minus 4 1/2 months and counting. My (hopeful) adventure draws ever closer.
TL;DR: My application to Kansai Gaidai is about ready to go, my passport is now in my possession and has been for several weeks, and I am nearly finished with applying for the Gilman Grant to help cover the financial aspect of studying abroad.
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