A handful of University of West Florida students will do more than just think outside the box next spring. They’ll live outside it.
For two weeks in May, 15 students will journey to Tokyo and immerse themselves in Japanese culture.
“What better way to learn how to communicate than with someone who doesn’t speak my language?” said Sarah Olive-Smith of Navarre, who is pursuing a degree in legal studies.
Olive-Smith said she knew she wanted to go on the inaugural Japan Study Abroad Program through the school’s College of Professional Studies Emerge Program as soon as it was announced. Not only has she always loved the country, but it’s her final year of college.
“My senior year I wanted to do something I’d never done before,” the 37-year-old said. “If there was an experience I could have, I would take it.”
Hannah Simerly, who graduated from Niceville High School, was less enthused when she learned about the trip.
“At first I wasn’t very interested and I wondered why I wasn’t interested,” the 21-year-old said.
She’d lived abroad as a military child, but had never been to Asia. The more she thought about the trip, the more valuable she realized the experience would be before she plunged into a job in social work.
While there, the group will meet Japanese students, participate in a community service project and have other opportunities to explore the culture.
Students will start one course before they leave and two when they return as part of the three-credit program.
By the time they take the trip, Sharee Rosabo from DeFuniak Springs will have her degree in elementary education. Still, she knows the trip will help her understand what students in her English language learner and exceptional student education classes go through.
“For me, it will be you having a better conceptual knowledge of being an outsider trying to fit in,” the 36-year-old said.
Learn more about the trip at uwf.edu/emerge.