Accepted! (Finally)

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"Dear Samantha:

We are happy to inform you that you have been admitted to the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai for the fall semester of 2009. All the faculty and staff members of the Asian Studies Program join me in extending a warm welcome to you."

I am extreamly excited right now! I just got my acception letter to KGU this morning, though I was supposed to get it sooner than that since they said that I would have a responce by the 15th and I didnt get it until after that but who cares? I got it and that is all that matters! In approximately four months I am going to be moving to the other side of the world to study in Japan! I cant even begin to describe how happy I am. Of course there are still many things I need to do before I go there. I just sent in my email telling KGU that I would be attending and of course there is that minor problem of where I'm going to come up with approximately seven thousand dollars but hey thats soemthing to worry about another time lol. So lets see the next step is to apply for my visa. This part is a tad bit annoying to me though. I thought it would be like when I got my passport way back when and that I could just go to the nearest post office and get a visa. Unfortunately this is not how it works. Apparently the only place that I can get a visa for Japan is the one and only Japanese consolate who's jurisdiction I am under. That one and only Japanese consulte for the embassy happens to be in Chicago Illlinois. blech. I really dont have the time to drive up there and do it in person and there is no way im going to take a flight up there since my flight to japan is going to wipe me out a little over a thousand dollars. So that leaves me with the only option of doing the process via mail. The only problem with this is that I have to send them my passport and of course its going to take a little longer than if I had done it in person. I really dont like to mail my passport anywhere since its a very important document that would take a lot of time to get a new one made. But thats my only choice as of now and so as soon as KGU sends me my certificate of eligability that they have to get from the main Japanese embasy I can apply for the rest. Thats still a long way off but its still something to think about. So yeah thats really all I had to say for now. I cant wait until it gets closer to time to go now that I am officially with out a doubt in the program. Still like I said im extreamly excited! My study abroad counselor told me that I had an almost guaranteed chance of getting in but I have heard of schools accepting people into their program and then KGU turning them down so I was still doubtful. But now that I have been accepted its all becoming real to me. Only four more months

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