Thursday | November 16th 2017 | Chiba
On study abroad you’re going to see beautiful scenery. You’re going to eat freaking mouthwatering food. You will have a transformative time wherever you go. This is all undeniably true, don’t fret. That said, some days are going to be slow. They’re going to be boring, and when those days come, you and your friends might get a little, shall we say, extra.
Look, it was a typical Thursday at KUIS. Everyone was chilling in SALC — basically the main hangout spot on campus — per usual, and out of sheer boredom, my friend Tess was like “Thanh, I love your outfit. Can you do a model walk for my Snapchat?” And this quickly escalated.
Soon, Tess was doing a walk, I was doing a walk, and eventually every damn person on our program did a walk. The timing was absolutely perfect. That day we had a workshop regarding culture and culture shock, meaning everyone had to be present, and so this little Snapchat spectacle soon became a huge spectacle with everyone strutting their stuff, and just plain being extra as hell, including the wonderful IES Abroad Tokyo staff — peep our director Caleb starting off the video with a bang!
When I watch the video, I can’t help but laugh because it was totally spontaneous, and just plain freaking ridiculous. However, on a more sentimental note, it warms my heart to see the community we’ve established in these three months. We’ve gotten past the awkward pleasantries and we’re just able to be ourselves with one another. I mean, we’re comfortable enough to do a ridiculous runway walk while holding a slice of Costco pizza. I especially love how each person’s walk captured their individual personality. However, my favorite part has to be the IES Abroad staff’s collective walk. It took a little convincing, but with a lot of persistence and begging, we got the whole team on board — Caleb-san, Ishikawa-san, Shin-san, and Lee-san, thank you for fostering such a tight-knit community, and for dealing with our ridiculous antics! And so sure, the day may have had a boring schedule (just class and a workshop), but we elevated a boring day to an extra AF day for the ages. And now we’ll always have this video to look back on our crazy adventures in Japan.
Shout out to Tess Tanaka (University of Redlands) for this ingenious idea, for filming and editing, and basically everything! Shout out to Mahdi Fariss (Rice University) for helping Tess figure out how to lay three Snapchat videos side-by-side. And a final shout out to everyone for participating in the video!
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Allen Chen
Hailing from Southern California, I traveled the (not so) great distance of seven miles to attend Occidental College in Los Angeles. At Oxy, my coursework in American Studies and Sociology allows me to explore American history, literature, and culture. While abroad, I aim to broaden my understanding of the American experience, improve my Japanese, and grow as an individual.
