HAVE you heard of Madonna’s song Ray of Light? Let’s scrutinize the lyric of that song because that is exactly what I was feeling when I studied my master in electronics and communications engineering here in Nagano , Japan . I felt like an isolated man here surrounded by women in micro-mini skirts masquerading as college uniforms. It’s just like being flirted with various women everyday. That’s the culture pervading here in Japan . I mean not the overt flirtations of course but the atmosphere of being in an alien world filled with human like forms.

I may sound overdramatic and cynical but that was exactly how I felt. Imagine being confronted with a foreign alphabet everyday. Imagine hearing conversations where you cannot decipher any word out of it. But I have slowly overcome that because of my diligence in studying Japanese characters as well as the Japanese language. As I’m borrowing the words of Madonna, I would like to describe myself as a zephyr contemplating on my future here in Japan . My father has a stint with Fuji and I was forced to live here with him or rather the whole family was forced to live here with him.

And again borrowing the words of Madonna, I would again say that the calls of thunder are constantly threatening me as I began my day-to-day academic semester here. It was really a heartbreaking struggle I’m telling you as I really miss my home country and I miss the usual medium of instruction that I’m familiar with which is English. It’s good that international students like me who know nothing but English are separated in the university’s most technical subjects such as digital signal engineering and acoustics technology.

Because of these help that I have gotten, I have slowly overcome these struggles so quickly faster than the speed of the ray of light. It seems that I’m home like in the Philippines once again. Again, some of those words I have borrowed from Madonna’s track Ray of Light because I really felt that song have touched me while I was struggling with my very first academic semester here in Japan taking up electronics and communications engineering.

There are other inspirations that I can draw from. Being a Catholic raised in the Philippines , my faith in the Almighty has not diminished amidst all the Shinto believers all around me. These guys and gals that are my classmates everyday are all Shinto believers. They are animists. They are nature lovers. In that, I have great respect. And I’m impressed all the more with them because they respect my being Catholic. Movies about cultural awareness and tolerance such as Lost in Translation and Babel have constantly moved me too in overcoming the temptations to be depressed here. I’m here in Japan to study and not to gallivant or loiter around, that is what I was constantly saying in my mind during those enduring months. Now I’m about to graduate in my advanced electronics and communications engineering studies here. And I know I’m gonna prevail.

IT’S nice to study abroad once in a while. If you are a kid and your parents travel a lot like being a diplomat, then you will have the opportunity to travel abroad and study there and bask at the many beautiful surroundings in other countries that you have gone. Let’s start off with Spain. If you come from a place such as Madrid, it’s nice to go to be here comfortable in your home country but during summer, it’s nice to go to another exotic place such as Palma del Mallorca at the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Islands are located right in the middle of the Mediterranean and during your summer vacation, you can really have a jolly good time consuming all the seafood that you can imagine such as redfish, grouper, lobsters, crabs, shrimps or mussels.

In your third grade, if your parents are assigned in Japan, you will have the experience of donning a micro-mini skirt as the bottom half of your uniform. That certainly sounds weird but that’s how it is in Japan. You will also have the opportunity to learn Niponggo and learn the Japanese characters. You will also note that their religion there is not like your own Roman Catholic upbringing but they believe in nature spirits in a faith called Shinto. In fact, they adore trees and they are the most environmental-friendly people on the planet. Whereas in Spain you’ll enjoy a robust temperature of up to 18 degrees Celsius during summer, in Japan you’ll endure chilling temperatures of up to -5 degrees Celsius during winter. But this is also an opportune time to learn skiing and Japan has a string of schools catered for wintry sports. It’s nice to enjoy skiing as early as possible and I was trained skiing at an early age of ten. I also liked the nice food in Japan such as oden, sashimi and miso. I was also surprised that the Japanese McDonald’s were serving rice balls.

After my stint in Japan, I then went into high school in Manila. In Manila, I was able to partake of purely Filipino dishes like fish paste, sweet sticky rice cakes, and whole roasted pork and boiled chicken fetuses. Believe me, they do taste yummy. I was also able to learn Tagalog, their national language and even the regional languages such as Cebuano and Maranao. I was also able to go to various places such as whitewater rafting in Cagayan de Oro City, scuba diving in Palawan, skim boarding in Siargao and sun tanning in Boracay.

From Manila, I went to Montreal where I took up a degree in international relations at the Universite de Montreal. It is there where I learned both French and English intensively and I was able to partake too of some of Montreal’s finest smoked ham which I have learned is a passion among the Jewish community here. It was also during my studies here that I was able to travel abroad back in Europe in my continent of origin particularly in France where I was able to meet quite a few lovely people there.

STUDYING abroad can be very fun indeed especially if you start young and especially if you’re the child of a diplomat. If your dad is working in the Foreign Ministry of Spain with possible ambassadorship positions, then you’re in for the spin of your life. When you have enjoyed your childhood in Spain up to your kindergarten years with cousins and friends in Madrid speaking only the Spanish language plus a few tours here and there to Palma del Mallorca during summer vacations, it will be a very immense adjustment period for you once you’ll take your first grade in Japan when your father will be assigned there as the Spanish ambassador to Tokyo.

Tokyo has numerous public and private schools but diplomats’ children are automatically enrolled in international schools. Yet again, these international schools are schooled with students who are also children of diplomats from other countries so you’ll be surprised to see students from other countries as well who don’t speak the same language as you are. You will be classmates with the children of the ambassador of Portugal to Japan along with the child of the ambassador from Nigeria.

This is actually my life story. Japan came as a culture shock for me not only because people here don’t have the same complexion as I do but also because we don’t speak the same language and write the same alphabet. But eventually, I have learned to speak Niponggo and I have interacted with my Japanese classmates in my six years of studying here. My Japanese classmates who are female are wearing short skirts which I find weird and seductive but that’s the norm there.

After Japan, I took up my high school in the Philippines where my father was assigned next. Somehow, I have slowly adopted myself with the language of the countries I have visited and so I was starting to learn Tagalog during my high school years. What I cannot endure yet though is the weather in these countries. I came from a place in Spain, Costa del Sol, which has a moderate and temperate weather all year long because we are in the Mediterranean. Even winters here are not that cold wit the lowest temperature at only -3 degrees Celsius.

But when I experienced winter in Japan for the first time, I was really shivering. My mom dressed me up in layers and layers of clothing. Then I went to Manila during my high school years, it seemed to be too hot for me to handle. Humidity was at an all-time high and the urban streets were clogged with polluted air. But eventually, I endured the four years of high school with no problems at all because I have come to visit tourist attractions here such as Boracay.

I then took up my college here in Quebec majoring in fine arts. It’s another culture shock for me as people here are speaking French. I have to endure again another four years of being here because my dad was assigned here as the Spanish consul in Quebec for the next four years or so. But it’s okay. I am learning.