Connection Conversations -A Study Abroad to Japan - Trent Gleason

The TCC Connection

Connection Conversations: A Study Abroad to Japan Date Recorded: 10/28/2020 Overview: Host Anna Fuhrmeister interviews Trent Gleason as he elaborates on his experience as a global student to Japan and what life lessons he brought back. Running time: 29:46 minutes Transcript from Interview: Anna Fuhrmeister 0:00 Welcome to the TCC Connection. I'm your host, Anna Fuhrmeister. On this episode, I have a special guest, Trent Gleason. So, Trent, welcome to the podcast. Happy to be here. So, on this episode, we will discuss your study abroad trip to Japan along his interest in Japanese culture, talking about his experience along with touching different elements of Japanese culture. So, Trent, what drew you to Japanese culture? Trent Gleason 0:31 It's a very good question. So, while I was studying at Tulsa Community College, I was mainly focusing on English studies, you know, creative writing, literature, composition, the such, but I needed to take an elective class. And as you know, you know, language studies are a commonly chosen elective. And, you know, among the options available, I thought, hey, Japanese seems interesting. You know, I'll admit, there was some nerdy interest there, like, I like video games a lot. And a lot of great games come out of Japan, I had watched some anime and I was like, hey, yeah, but, uh, but between all the options, Japanese seemed like the most fun. And I had a buddy, who was interested in doing it with me. So I was like, hey, this could be a fun little thing, you know, whatever. So I take it and I ended up like, taking it really seriously. And like passing the class with an A, and like, really walking away from that, like semester, in like, Hey, this is like an actual thing that I like, maybe want to do, like, long term. So from there, you know, my interest is continued to develop naturally, whether that be me, you know, watching more anime or even just, like doing more research, and having conversations with my teacher or like seeking out community events, like one thing I did was that the circle cinema hosted like a documentary night, where is like some Tulsa filmmakers had made a like, documentary about Japanese musicians. I can't remember if it was like there in Oklahoma or something. It was some deal. And so I went out of my way to go to that. And like, my Japanese teacher was there like, unexpectedly and there's this whole thing, and I was just like, okay, but anyway, so like, around that time, like, I realized that Hey, no, with me, looking at finishing my associate's degree here in the next year or so at TCC. Anyway, so, uh, yeah, like, I saw a window of opportunity for me to go to Japan, with me, looking at finishing my associate's degree within the next year or so. So I was like, hey, yeah, I'll start saving money. I'll, you know, start doing research about what kind of stuff I don't want to do on there, where I want to go. And all of it is kind of fell into place. And kind of what I was looking at that trip as like, it was an experiment, right? It was like, Okay, if I spend three months in Japan, and I study abroad, and I really like challenge myself, it'll like inform me of whether or not this is something I actually want to do. Or if it's just like, a fleet of fancy if it's just like, I'm still in the honeymoon phase. And it's not something I actually want to go through. You know, I figured, hey, three months is enough time for me to really get a taste of like the true challenge of studying Japanese and also like whether or not I even really want to know if whether or not I'm really seriously interested in this country. It just kind of felt like a natural next step. If I were to take this seriously, and I did it, and I had the experiences I had, and I'm sure you'll ask me more questions. But that so Anna Fuhrmeister 3:32 So what programs did you associate with to go on this study abroad trip to Japan? Trent Gleason 3:37 It was very independent. I