One of the things that I consider to be extremely important in the development of a person as an individual is experiencing new things in an unfamiliar environment. Studying abroad provides exactly that. Immersing yourself in a completely different country with a culture vastly different from your own is a key factor that influences how a person views the world. Before discovering the existence of the Gilman Scholarship program, I would have not been able to consider travelling abroad due to the scarce financial resources that a lower-middle class family in Puerto Rico has. I expect this experience to broaden my world view as an individual not just on a personal level but professionally as well. The country I have chosen to be the gateway for this new experience in my life is none other than the land of the rising sun, Japan. I have always been fascinated by the Japanese way of life and their culture because of the stark contrast that it has with my home country. And for a few years now I’ve been interested in learning their language. Because of this, I began to self-study. I taught myself the “hiragana” and “katakana” alphabets, and I am currently studying Kanji which contains well over 2,000 characters and the true challenge to overcome for anyone that is learning Japanese. To further my journey in my language learning endeavor I have …show more content…
As a bilingual individual (Spanish and English), learning a third language will be an edge over other candidates when job hunting, especially in the hyper-competitive world of computer engineers. Another benefit from learning this language would be the fact that highly regarded video game companies such as Square Enix and Capcom are of Japanese origin, thus knowing the native language would give me the opportunity to live and work in Japan in this industry in which I plan to work