Alumni Interview with Audrey Deigaard 

What inspired you to travel abroad? 

Since elementary school, I have been interested in Asian culture. In middle school, I saw an ad online for Japanese audio lessons, so I downloaded them and listened to them every day on the bus home from school. From then on, my specific interest in Japan grew as I studied the language. Since then, it has been my goal to someday live permanently in Japan, so I knew that I should travel there as much as possible before moving there. 

Why did you choose Meiji Internships? 

The reviews for many similar companies showed that their "internship" programs were more vacations than anything. However, the reviews for Meiji showed the opposite: people were actually contributing to their internships, and some were even offered permanent positions there.

What was your favorite part about Japan? 

I love the relationships I was able to create during my time in Japan. You can't have a country or culture without people, so my favorite part of Japan was definitely the people I met. 

What made your experience abroad extraordinary? 

While most people are interested in a specific area of Japanese culture ie. history, anime, music, etc. what gets me excited about Japan is the daily life. Don't get me wrong, I am always eager to learn more about the culture and innovation of Japan, but I love experiencing ordinary life here. It's the everyday experiences that make my time abroad extraordinary, from finding out that Japan has coconut-flavored toothpaste, to joking around with friends in Japanese. 

How did the local program staff support you throughout Meiji Internships? 

My internship package offered 24/7 emergency support, so I felt safe knowing that if I got sick or injured that I would be taken care of. 

What's one thing you wish you would have done differently during your time abroad? 

I wish I had booked my own accommodation. I understand that it is difficult to find high-quality accommodation on a budget in Tokyo, but as a girl, I was not comfortable living in a sharehouse with older men.

Describe what a typical day in your life abroad looked like. 

I would usually wake up around 8 a.m. and eat granola for breakfast (people always respond to this saying that I should be eating "Japanese food" but I don't know what it is about Japanese granola, is SO good), before getting ready to go to my internship from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., I would complete my daily tasks, with a one hour break for lunch around noon. During our lunch break, my other friend who also interned and I would usually go eat our bento lunches next to Sumida River. At 6 p.m., I would return to my sharehouse to make dinner, study Japanese, read, and relax before going to bed. 

What did you enjoy doing in your free time abroad? 

I think the real question is what DIDN'T I enjoy during my free time in Japan. I think I experienced a little bit of everything, to be honest. Some highlights, however, were Tokyo Disney Sea with my friend who visited from Korea, hanging out with my friends from my internship, visiting Nezu Museum, and solo traveling to the Setouchi Region to attempt the Shimanami Kaido bike trail. 

What type of accommodation did you have? What did you like best about it? 

I stayed in an individual room at a sharehouse in Asakusa. While I did not particularly like the sharehouse itself, I really loved the location. It was about a ten-minute walk from my internship, which saved me a lot of transportation time. I could instead spend studying Japanese, relaxing, and exploring the city. I also love the area of Kaminarimon in general and was able to discover lots of cute cafes and unique restaurants in my neighborhood. This really made me feel like a local instead of a tourist. For instance, when I started to become a regular at my favorite cafe, the people working there began to recognize me. 

What is one thing every future participant should know about their internship before it begins? 

Culture shock is real! I've visited Japan before and even stayed with a host family and attended high school in a small town, but I still felt culture shock for the first week or so here. I say this not to scare away potential future participants, but to let them know that it's normal to feel discombobulated for a while before they acclimate to their life in a foreign country. Moreover, I actually feel lucky to have experienced culture shock because it signaled to me that I was getting outside of my comfort zone and learning new things really quickly. 

Would you recommend Meiji Internships to others? Why? 

Yes! Although I was hoping to secure an Engineering internship this summer before I begin my major this fall, I knew that it would be a stretch considering my lack of prerequisite courses and experience. Even so, I thought long and hard about it after being matched with my host company whether an internship with a tourism and marketing company would benefit me in the long run. I consulted many adults that had lived/are living abroad in Asia, and we all came to to conclusion that even if this wasn't my field of choice, not only would I learn many transferable skills necessary in any industry (such as answering phone calls professionally, communicating with coworkers and team leaders, and how to deal with making mistakes in a professional environment), we also recognized that living alone in a foreign country would force me to become independent and make decisions for myself. Moreover, after seeing host company's website, I saw many group pictures of all the employees smiling together and having fun, so I knew that this was a work environment I wanted to be a part of. All of these expectations turned out to be 100% correct, and I feel so happy to have had the opportunity to work there! I definitely would not have had this experience without Meiji, so I wholeheartedly recommend this program to anyone seeking a similar experience. 

What do you feel the greatest benefit of traveling abroad is? 

I could list a billion benefits, but I think the greatest benefit is the new perspective you gain from traveling abroad. You are both physically and metaphorically seeing the rest of the world from a new vantage point, and it's something you can't experience from within your home country. 

Now that you're home, how has your time abroad impacted your life? 

I've learned a lot about myself as an individual, which enabled me to become more mature and confident in myself. Japanese culture strongly values teamwork and 

I learned that what constitutes a team is not a bunch of people with the same ideas and abilities, but a diverse group of individuals who contribute something different in order to create something outside of the scope of what they could make by themselves. 

As a result, I now recognize that although I may not have the same skills that I admire in someone else, I possess a combination of skills and perspectives that only I can contribute. 

What does meaningful travel mean to you? 

It is human nature to constantly be learning new things and sharing that knowledge with others. As such, I believe all travel is meaningful as it fills this intrinsic need to learn about and interact with the world around us.