Thinking about the Future

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Over the last year, I’ve flirted with the idea of graduate school, trying to figure out the best way to go. Do i want to focus on a career in marketing? How about business? Maybe communications?

No matter what I choose, the purpose for it would be to further my education and increase my marketability in the real work job market. Let’s be real about something. I’ve almost never look at things by how much money I’ll make from them, because that’s something that’s not very important to me. However, my future and my family are very important to me and thinking only about what will make me happy is selfish. So, I’ve made the decision to apply for a graduate school in Japan. I will be pursuing a Ph.D in Global Studies. I love, more than anything, learning about the world and places that I am unfamiliar with. I love to travel and I love to explore. By getting this degree, I will make myself very marketable and get to do what makes me happy as well. It’s win-win for me.

The obstacle I face right now is learning more languages, which is required for the degree. I’ve never been a very good language learner and it took me 3 months abroad to become as fluent in Japanese as I am now (which is not very). Don’t get me wrong, I have time to learn but I don’t know if I have the ability to learn. I don’t usually doubt myself, but I have a poor record for learning languages. Maybe I need to try something new. I can’t go to every country to learn a language. Lol.

Working with the Asian Studies department will definitely give me more experience in learning languages and learning about other places. I will see where this road takes me.

Hector Santiago

Hector was an FEA Scholar in the fall of 2012. He studied abroad in Japan, going back to Japan to take part on the JET program after graduating from Brookdale Community College, and later going on to earn his MA in International Education at SIT. He currently works as a study abroad advisor at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and runs his own business. *** (From 2012) Hello. ใ“ใ‚“ใซใกใฏใ€‚My name is Hector Santiago. ๅƒ•ใฎใ€€ๅๅ‰ใฏใ€ใƒ˜ใ‚ฏใ‚ฟใƒผใ€€ใ‚ตใƒณใƒ†ใ‚ฃใ‚ขใƒผใ‚ดใงใ™ใ€‚I am a 23 years old and am a student at Brookdale Community College and Kean University. I come from a low-income family and have yet to experience life outside of New Jersey. I have travelled to Florida before because my best friend lives there, but otherwise have not been out of New Jersey much. It would be a great experience to go to Japan and study a culture that interests me so much. No one in my family has ever travelled outside of the country either so it would be a chance to help move my family forward. I will be studying in Tokyo, Japan at KCP International Japanese Language School from October until December. During my time in Japan, I will be studying Japanese language and culture as outline in the course description of KCPโ€™s program. I have heard that KCP has a community service club that I would like to be involved with. In addition, I will be video recording my experience and making a video to show other students upon my return from Japan. Iโ€™m looking forward to every aspect of this trip. It is all new to me and I am very anxious to go. When I wrote my first letter to FEA for this scholarship, I was still having trouble deciding my major and how this study abroad would be relevant to it. However, over the last few weeks, Iโ€™ve decided, with great excitement, that I will pursue my B.A. degree in Asian Studies. What better way to study Asian history and culture than to be there? With the experience I get from this program, I would like to, if at all possible, start a Japanese program at Kean University when I graduate because there is none as of yet. This is why I am studying abroad through Brookdale Community College. My other interests include music, racquetball, and Goju Karate.