at the time it made me feel like wow I
have to rethink my whole life career
path I started rethinking my whole
entire life and I was like alright well
I'm probably never going to go to Japan
[Music]
hey guys welcome back to my channel your
virtual ticket to Japan and today's
video I'm going to be talking about how
I almost gave up on going to Japan
I get a lot of DM is about how I moved
to Japan and why I moved to Japan and a
lot of people that are feeling a little
down and worried about whether or not
they can move to Japan and lots of
worries and stresses about that sort of
thing and I will tell you that I've been
there so I'm gonna tell you guys that
story today so when I was in high school
so this goes all the way back into high
school I was trying to figure out what I
wanted to do with my life what I wanted
to be all that stuff so my high school
offered Japanese language and that's
what I went for when I studied in high
school we had to choose a language a lot
of people chose Spanish but I wanted to
be different so I chose Japanese and I
fell in love with the language and the
culture and my teacher was so amazing
and inspired me and I realized that okay
I wanted to be a teacher I was thinking
about being an elementary school teacher
but after learning languages and about
culture and seeing what my teacher could
do I wanted to be that too so when I was
younger I strived to be a language
teacher in the United States and
Japanese was very popular at the time
when I was in high school so a lot of
schools didn't offer it but a lot of
schools in my area definitely offered it
I've never been to Japan at this point
so I decided to keep studying and
learning and soon enough my school
offered a program to go study abroad or
three weeks it's basically just a travel
program it wasn't like studying abroad
in a school or anything like that so I
wanted to apply for it I was like oh my
gosh it's perfect for me I can go and I
can learn more about the country and you
know put that on my resume someday that
I studied abroad I was thinking really
hard about my goal in life and that for
sure hundred percent is what I wanted to
be was a Japanese language teacher in
the States the person that was running
it was not my teacher it was a
from another school in the area I didn't
know much about the teacher but when I
went to the seminar that they had before
applying I asked him I said I want to go
on this trip like hundred percent there
wasn't a lot of people that wanted to go
surprisingly there wasn't a huge group
of people at least and they had a lot of
spots open and my friend also wanted to
apply she had diabetes so she was a
little nervous but she knew that she
could take care of herself we were we
were about to graduate like we were
seventeen I think oh we've lived with
this all our lives we knew how to take
care of ourselves so we knew that we
could go to this country and be fine as
long as you know we were with a group of
people and we carried whatever we needed
for our medicine whoo sorry I just need
anyway I asked the teacher I said hey I
have a peanut allergy is it okay if I
still go and I still apply would it be a
problem if I got accepted and were to go
and he said no that does not matter you
don't need to worry about having an
allergy they're not considering that
when you do apply for the opportunity
and not to worry so I was like okay I'm
gonna try and apply for this because I
was really excited he seemed okay he was
like don't worry we'll take care of you
like he was just super positive about
the whole thing and I was like all right
I'm gonna apply I wrote the longest
essay according to my teacher out of
everybody and I had legitimate be a
Japanese language teacher I wanted to
study Japanese language and get a
bachelor's degree in Japanese when I
went to college I was so excited for
that I talked about my my ambitions and
my goals in life and it was the longest
essay and she said it was the most tear
jerking essay because it was just a very
it was a very emotional read she says I
really appreciate appreciated that
because I poured my heart into this and
I was so determined so they had actually
more spots open then there were people
applying so we all applies everything
was good my allergies didn't matter
because at the time I was a worried
about that I was like does Japan he's a
lot of nuts or peanut oil or whatever I
I thought so because you know in Asian
countries a lot of Asian countries use
that I was
definitely a little nervous so anyway
the time came and I got my results and
my teacher wanted to wait until the end
of class cuz she didn't want me to know
that I didn't get in to the program
she said she sat at the meeting and she
pulled me aside she told me the whole
story and she said basically he at the
meeting I guess said to all the people
well she has a peanut allergy and we
don't want to take care of her so we are
not going to let her go so he
straight-up said that at the meeting and
my teacher said she fought for me she
really tried her hardest and then she
cried my teacher cried because I worked
really hard in the class and I loved
what I did and I had a lot of passion I
was Japan club president in my high
school and I was just really involved
with the culture also my friend with
diabetes didn't get in because even
though they told her that she could go
and that's not considered she wasn't
able to go so we both were very upset
because everyone that applied went I
would have rather heard no I don't think
that it's possible for you to go or no
you shouldn't apply because we're
worried about your allergies I would
have rather heard that then went through
all of this and applied and didn't get
in then it made me question whether or
not I would be able to ever go to Japan
or I would ever be able to work there
and live there and so I went to my
counselor and she legit said the same
thing she's like oh it's an Asian
country they use all sorts of nuts no I
don't think you're gonna be able to go
to Japan you should just quit everything
now she was a very good counselor but at
the time it made me feel like wow I have
to rethink my whole life career path
obviously it could be a Japanese teacher
in the States without going to Japan but
you want to be able to take your kids to
Japan someday and you want to be able to
experience a culture firsthand and tell
your students about that and so I was
really bummed out I started rethinking
my whole entire life and I was like
alright well I'm probably never going to
go to Japan so I basically gave up at
that time and it took a while for me to
get back into it and to go to class
after all of that and
I just felt really defeated I guess
because of my allergy and yeah it's it's
crazy because when people think of
allergies people think Oh coughing and
sneezing but when you have to live your
life every day and view food as possible
poison
it's very mentally exhausting and
especially now when you when I have two
new allergies that develop especially
when its main ingredient foods like main
proteins soy egg nuts are the
ingredients that I'm allergic to now
people don't talk about in tolerances
sensitivities or allergies in any way
besides oh well she'll probably just get
sick and be okay after that but I've had
nut reactions and you're dying and to
feel death when you eat something it's
the scariest thing in the world and I
have an EpiPen and EpiPen do not save
you that depends by you time so I can
see on the other side of the person that
rejected my application why he was
nervous so like I said I wish he would
have said something before that now I'm
living here with two new allergies and
have to learn to eat and to cope so like
I said those of you who do understand
and have deadly allergies I feel for you
and I get it
and I know there's a lot of people that
are scared to travel here and to move
here but I want to be I want to give you
hope and positivity because I am here
and I'm living here I'm full proof that
you can survive in Japan living here
with all these allergies and a lot of
allergies are in Japan as well there's
kids here that are born and raised that
have allergies they're allergic to soba
they're allergic to seafood they're
allergic to soy there's soy allergies
here in Japan and there's so many
allergies around that it is possible to
eat as long as you cook for yourself a
lot and you find recipes which is what
I'm doing now but you can travel you can
live in another country you have to work
a little harder it's a challenge but you
can do it and I want you guys to know
that because I wish someone would have
told me that a long time ago that I can
do it and I want you guys to know the
it will be mentioned in my videos
because I want to use this to help other
people that want to move to Japan and
want to live in this country you want to
show them that it's possible my
allergies I accept I accept myself like
I accept Who I am now and that is what's
gonna be happening and I'm gonna do it
and I'm gonna overcome it and I want you
guys to know that this is gonna be
brought up when I'm cooking or when I'm
at restaurants they'll know know how bad
it makes you feel when you do have a
reaction it's awful you're like it's
like your your body is eating itself
alive anyway I was scared when I was in
high school and that was how I was
feeling I wanted to give up like how
recently when I found out I had new
allergies I wanted to give up but I told
myself that that's not who I am first of
all I'm gonna I'm gonna clear the air
about something Japan if you have a nut
allergy it's very easy to live here
Japan has less nuts and peanut oil they
don't even use peanut oil here and I'm
worse off in the States because they use
so many peanut products and nut products
in America compared to Japan so if you
do have a nut allergy do not worry it is
very very possible to live here so weigh
an egg on the other hand is a lot more
challenging which is something I'm
trying to figure out so if you guys do
have that let me know down below I will
do my best to share my lifestyle here
and my challenges and what I can
overcome so you guys can do it too when
you travel and when you live here and
don't be afraid to DM me or talk about
these things because I definitely want
to get that word out but at the time I
was very defeated and I felt like I
couldn't ever live here and I am living
the dream and I'm so grateful for it
after all that happened my Japanese
teacher asked if I wanted to host an
exchange student and I said yes I was so
excited about that to have that
opportunity and then eventually my
teacher ran a program to go to Japan in
high school and study abroad there and I
had the time of my life I I got in I did
the interview I was so enthusiastic
about it and the thing is I had to face
the teacher that rejected me in the
interview and I was so confident and I
went in there and I told him how I felt
not about what he did but I told him how
I felt about Japan and my passion how
I'm never gonna give up
they gave me that opportunity and I was
so lucky and I was able to stay with my
exchange student so we swapped lives and
it was just those four months of my life
in Japanese high school was the best
four months ever it was I'm gonna get
emotional I'm gonna get so emotional ah
oh my god I don't want to cry I'm so
lucky I was so happy and that's the time
ah oh my god I'm just so like grateful
like I'm so grateful to have had that
opportunity because this country is so
gorgeous and so beautiful and the people
were so lovely and I experienced so much
and learned so much it made so many
friends when I was in high school and
I've come such a long way and think
another reason why I'm getting a little
emotional is because I was like such a
fighter I didn't stop I kept going with
my dreams and I came back again for an
internship in college and I fell in love
all over again
despite all the things I got through or
even now like the challenges that I'm
facing like it doesn't even matter
like I'm so so so lucky and grateful and
happy every day that I live here and I'm
gonna keep fighting and I'm gonna you
know overcome those things and I'm truly
I'm so my heart is here everything is
here so I want you guys to know I feel
like I'm telling my younger self this I
know a lot of people out there are in
high school that watch my channel so if
you are looking to go to Japan and you
are young and you want to study abroad
you want to do those things you have
allergies I know this is just a topic on
allergies if you do have them you can go
just do your research and really prepare
yourself when you do come here because
you are gonna have to work a little
harder when you move or when you travel
it is gonna be challenging but you can
do it and I I want to travel the world I
want to see Europe I want to see other
parts of Asia and I want to show people
that you can do it with all of these
allergies like you can do it I keep
telling myself that you can and not to
give up because I didn't give up then
and I'm not gonna give up now
so yeah that is my story of how I almost
gave up on going to Japan how I almost
quit
it's like a lesson that you should learn
in life is not to give up and always
give your best and always do its best
for yourself and not let people affect
you in any way or change or alter your
mind because there's always a way where
there's a will there's a way
anyway I want to share how grateful I am
to be living here and that there are a
lot of times where I wanted to give up
on a lot of things so this is just one
of them yeah I hope you guys will follow
me on my journey of overcoming so many
things this YouTube channel is meant to
document my growth and my mistakes and
my trials in life and I'm gonna look
back on it and be like wow look how far
I've come
that's the reason why I started YouTube
is to follow that journey and to
document everything that I do in my
experiences that I have and yeah and for
my favourite friends and family back
home because I'm so close to my family I
want them to see what I'm doing and to
see me grow that is the video and I want
you guys to share your stories and how
you've overcome something or you almost
gave up on something so when people do
read my comments in this video they will
be encouraged and you know motivated as
well to live their dreams and to follow
their hearts and to never give up like I
want that I want people to read those
types of things so if you do have a
story please don't hesitate to share it
don't forget to like this video and
share it with people who love Japan or
who just loved travel in general also
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the next video see ya