Finally Living My Childhood Dream of Studying Abroad

My name is Florence Kent. I’m an Art History major at Columbia College Chicago. In Spring 2025 I went to the Semester at Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan! I had researched studying abroad in other countries since I was very young, maybe around 10, so I had learned a lot about its aspects such as culture shock, language barriers, and small nuances between different cultures. Japan was the first country I was ever interested in when it came to learning the language, culture, and eventually the idea of studying abroad.

I remember watching YouTube videos of people going when they were in high school, college, people who went to international schools, vlogs of students who were just originally from Japan. I felt that I wouldn’t be very shocked because of the amount of research I have done throughout my life, which was pretty true. For example, this seems pretty small but I remember watching a video about how sandwiches and bread are not as common in Japan. I did not think much of it when I first saw that, but then I had a friend (who is from France where of course the bread is amazing) who was so deprived of it. She had felt homesick about the food from where she was from, which I think has also happened to me but to a lesser extent because the only thing I really miss about American food is the french fries.

I was most excited to be demystified from any idea that I had about Japan in the past and to just exist within it as “another place to live” rather than a vacation spot. I did not want to experience it in such a bite-sized amount of a week or two, because I knew that my impression would be way different.

I was so excited to find unique Tokyo fashion pieces and find anime figures of shows I can only get for an expensive price online in America. Funnily enough, I’m not sure if it is specifically because Tokyo is a big city, but I ended up being disappointed with the amount of thrift stores. “Vintage” and “second-hand” are buzzwords you will hear around a lot of shops, but Japan takes care of their second-hand items really well so unless it is a plain t-shirt or plain skirt, all of the pieces were really expensive in my opinion. I’m used to thrifting in the U.S. where I’m from where I can find gold for around $10. However, when I compare it to thrifting in say, New York City, it seemed on a similar level to that.

I remember being very nervous about leaving my friends and family back in my hometown because while I have lived in another city than them for college, it was only around an hour away. The time difference was definitely really difficult to work out at times, because while it is night back at home it is the morning here in Japan. I ended up being able to work it out by just forcing myself to wake up early to talk or play games with them. The initial shock was still very hard at the beginning, because after around a couple weeks it had set in that I couldn’t call my friends or family anytime I needed which had made me really nervous. I had to accept that while I was more alone, I was not completely!

Learn more about studying abroad in Japan here!

Blog by Florence Kent, Columbia College - Chicago
Semester in Tokyo - Toyo University, Spring 2025