It's not that I haven't been doing anything or traveling - on the contrary, I've been all over the place these past 8 months. The problem is instead that I have hit a point in my time abroad, the phase I once found called the "dissonance" phase, and for those at this phase, there are two possible trajectories: assimilation or departure. Either the person assimilates completely and assumes the societal values and norms, or they do not, unable to merge their own beliefs and moral code with that of the new culture. It's not much of a secret which path I will take. Japan, as an experience, has changed me more in the past 4 years than almost anything else in my life has changed me. It's not bad - it's amazing. I have grown and
... read more