On August 19, 2024, a third year student, Rama Suryadi, became the first of the FIS students to embark on a semester-long study abroad adventure to UPENN in the United States.
Here are some impressions about how his adventure began:
- Before I went to Philadelphia, I got sick due to over exhaustion and so i was pondering about whether i should reschedule my flight or not. But, if I rescheduled I would miss my orientation so I decided to YOLO it and go anyways.
- The trip from KIX to Philadelphia was brutal, it felt so long and i was still coughing but I tried to not because I did not want to scare the people around me. Overall, it was super tiring and I am dreading the trip home, although I did not finish guardians of the galaxy 3 so I am looking forward to watching that on my trip home.
- Arriving in America was no problem, immigration was smooth and I took the taxi to the apartment which the school recommended to me. The apartment looked old but I thought nothing about it until I realized that both the hot water and the AC was broken in the apartment. I was sweating all night after the 33 hour trip and I did not know who to blame, I was mostly mad at the school for recommending me this apartment, luckily, 2 weeks later it was fixed, but I was sweating and hardly sleeping for those two weeks
- The food here was not as good as Japan, it is always either under-seasoned or over-seasoned. I miss Japanese food but I am here for only 4 months so I think I will manage. The people are super friendly but it is hard to find things in common with them, I guess I will find my people at some point I just need to be patient. Classes were a completely different level than in Japan, I am surrounded by very smart or very rich people, I feel very out of place at times, but I am doing my best.