Osaka, Japan Study Abroad Program

My experience traveling with World Class Programs (WCP) was one of the best experiences of my life. I became so close with my roomates and the staff members especially, and they always kept our best interests at heart and cared about us and what we wanted to get out of the trip. At the end of the trip, I felt like I was leaving my family behind as I was only able to participate in 2 weeks out of the full 3. Originally, I had planned to study Spanish in Seville, Spain with my school exchange program, but at the very last minute things did not work out and I applied to WCP very last minute, and they were so accomodating and welcomed me to the program with open arms. While this was the first year of WCP's Osaka, Japan trip, it felt as though the program had been running for years. The staff knew the city like the back of their hand, and they showed us around the country like natives to give us the inside scoop of what it feels like to really be a citizen of that country, and not just be a tourist- something I had never experienced before. I came back from the program having matured so greatly: I felt more prepared for college as I learned how to cook, clean, maintain good relationships with roomates, do laundry, buy Japanese subway tickets, etc, and it not only grew my knowledge but made me a better person. WCP focuses on "experimental learning" as opposed to sitting in a classroom, so for my two courses: photography and cuisine, we went out and took pictures, made food, and tried different traditional Japanese foods as opposed to just learning about them. The program was centered in Osaka, but in our two weeks we visited everywhere from seeing deer in Nara to partaking in the Peace Festival in Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bombings in World War II. We did karaoke, saw a Pokemon movie entirely in Japanese, went bowling, and the list goes on and on. I strongly reccomend this program because of the incredibly devoted and kind staff, the commitment to each student and their experience, and the once in a lifetime opportunity. Being 1/4 Japanese, it was so wonderful to experience more deeply a culture I already knew well, and I learned so much more about it than I ever thought was possible. I hope to come back next year to another trip with World Class Programs and hope everyone decides to get them a try.