My name is Ryan. I grew up in the northeast corner of Iowa in a small college town called Decorah. Life there is idyllic for some and terribly difficult for others and everything in between for most. I fell into the "terribly difficult" category and fled to Portland, Oregon at the first available opportunity.
Fast forward 12 years: I've just finished my first college degree, a B.A. in Liberal Studies. I minored in physics and history, earned myself a pretty nifty GPA, and was exposed to many, many fascinating fields. I could have studied any of number of them more extensively, but was required by certain financial realities to graduate after 5 nice years of college. One of the subjects that interested me, and that I studied fairly intensively, was Japanese language and culture. Eventually, I began working with Japanese college students, usually groups of girls.
I knew that I wanted some time after my graduation to think about my next step in life, graduate school, and going to Japan seemed like the best possible option, especially now, given the failure of certain other options that seemed really impossibly ideal.
So. I have:
1) a one-way ticket to Japan.
2) a few grand in the bank.
3) a list of contacts who might help me find work.
4) a suit.
5) a passport.
6) sold all of my stuff.
7) dropped off my cat at the parents' house.
8) broken off a very wonderful relationship.
I'm leaving with a broken-but-mending heart and a nearly total lack of any idea of what my future in Japan will look like, or if I even have one beyond a few weeks or a month. For good or for bad, these are very exciting times. Stay tuned.
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