Studying abroad gave me a chance to think about my career

Isooka Misato from Tokyo Institute of Technology

I studied abroad at KAIST in Korea for a month. The reason I joined this program was because I wanted to study abroad anyway. I had been thinking about studying abroad since I was a freshman in college, but due to COVID 19, I was not able to study abroad. Recently, I started to think about studying abroad because it is allowed. I am currently looking for a job after graduation. Considering that studying abroad would affect my career choice, my first year as a master's student was my last chance. So, I looked for a study abroad program and applied to Campus Asia+.

In this program, you belong to one laboratory and conduct research for one month. You can choose which lab you want to belong to. I chose a laboratory where I could learn about biomaterials, which is my research theme. However, I had already completed similar research to my own in that lab, so I am doing completely different research in the lab. Totally surprising to me, but this gave me an idea about my career. I'll write it down.

The students in my laboratory were overwhelmingly more research oriented than their Japanese counterparts. They arrived at the laboratory before 9:00 in the morning and went home after 8:00 at night. I wondered why they were so enthusiastic about research. I wondered, but they told me that they had to do research as usual to obtain their degrees. Still, it was refreshing to see them so highly motivated to do research. Being able to feel their enthusiasm for research up close was the most important lesson I learned during my study abroad this time.

Students from Tsinghua University in China and NTU in Singapore also participated in this program. The most gratifying part of this program was the opportunity to interact with these students and become friends with them. By working with students from vari ous countries, I learned many things, such as my own lack of English ability and the skills I need to acquire in international collaboration. 

I have not yet defined what career I want to pursue in the future. However, through this study abroad experience, I have come to think that I would like to work with people from other countries in the future. However, even in Korea, which is said to be a c ountry similar to Japan, staying for a long period of time has been a little stressful for me. In another country with a completely different culture, I would be even more stressed out and possibly sick. Therefore, in the future, I came to think that I wou ld like to work for a Japanese company and work from Japan to connect Japan with the rest of the world.