Final Thoughts

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my year in Japan and if given the chance, I definitely want to go back. I never expected studying abroad to alter my life so much that it made me want to change careers. I dedicated all my free time while a student at my home campus to encouraging and helping students study abroad, and I want to turn that into a career for myself if given the chance. I'm in a transition phase of finding where exactly I belong and what I want to do, but I hope that in the future I can become the pushing force to someone studying abroad like my advisors and teachers did for me. Disabilities and chronic illness don't have to be this massive force you can't overcome. I will leave you with my favorite Japanese quote in the original language and my translation of it.

「僕の前に道はない僕の後ろに道は出来る」

"Before me there is no path. Behind me a path is possible."

I may not have a map to show me where to go in life, but the path I leave behind will be proof that I kept moving forward.