Study Abroad + Manju

In response to the Light Fellowship-generated question of the week, I would like to discuss my feelings about study abroad at Yale. Here was the prompt:

Many students at Yale almost automatically dismiss the idea of studying abroad during term time. Conversely, we'll often see students returning from a term abroad saying it was their best time ever "at Yale"? What are your thoughts? Did this time abroad contribute to or detract from your "Yale education" in any unexpected ways?

I was one of those students who dismissed the idea of studying abroad during my time as an undergraduate for several reasons, chiefly because my major did not allow me to easily take a semester off and continue on schedule for a timely graduation. The architecture major only had two or three study abroad options, all centered in Western Europe. I was looking for a program outside the Western canon of architecture, yet there was nothing really available that was approved by the major. Of course, I always had the option of applying to the Light fellowship for a year off, but I hesitated because I did not want to fall behind in the architecture track and fall back another year. I really loved my architecture studio family/friends and did not want to miss a year with them thereby placing me in the '10 architecture class of whom I was not especially close with.

I am extremely grateful to the Light Fellowship for giving me the opportunity to study abroad post-graduation and providing me with an experience that was not easily facilitated with the complexities of the architecture major. Indeed, last semester and this year so far has been one of my most exciting semesters of my academic career. Although, at the same time, there is the tinge of evanescence that comes along with any limited period of study abroad. By that I mean it feels like everything I'm doing/ have done here is just going to fall back into some distant, hazy, dreamlike memory once it's over. All these people I've just started to connect with will go back to their separate lives and schools around the world once this year is up. I suppose in a normal study abroad situation I would be returning to Yale next year, but instead I will attempt to enter the real world (once more >.<) and have no idea what is in store. It would be comforting to return to Yale for another senior year after what would have been an amazing junior year abroad, but unfortunately that is not the case for me. The prospect of being pushed out into the uncharted post-grad life instead of the safety of my home university has given me an anxiety that most of the other people (mainly juniors studying abroad) in my program don't seem to have to deal with.

Anyways, there's a quick record of my thoughts on study abroad and now for a lighter, tastier subject, here are some pictures of a manju I ate last week.

On the way back from the archery festival at Sanjusangen-do I stopped by this shop with steamed manju outside. Manju are Japanese sweet buns, often filled with delicious tastyness, in this case filled with sweet rice, beans, and topped with a piece of chestnut.