Now, this is different from "Diary" but I'm going to report
what I'm preparing for study abroad in the U.S from 2003 summer. Take a look of it! (^^)v


This time, I use my uni's study abroad program. I mean I'll study in the U.S as a reciprocity student so that I don't contract with intercessor for study abroad. I'll study in University of California (UC) from this summer for one academic year. During the year, of course I won't go to my uni in Japan but they will accept some credits that are taken in UC. Therefore I may not go to my uni one more year after coming back. In my case, I guess my graduation would be a little late (I'll explain the reason later). Now I'm going to show you the progress of my preparation for the study abroad.
My university makes agreements with other universities in foreign countries about study abroad programs. (U.S., UK, France, Asian countries, Oceania) It depends on each university when an academic year starts. In Australia, New Zealand, school starts in Feb. Meantime U.S and Europe start in Sep. And I chose UC as my first choice of the program. (Actually I wavered between UC and University of Rochester (NY).)


Oct-Nov, 2002
The selection of the program was held. In the first round, paper examination. In the second round, interview (English/Japanese). It took a month to select applicants for EAP (Education Abroad Program). Then passed. I'm glad that two of my classmates were also passed.

Dec, 2002
Gradually schedule is getting tight. I had to hand in Study Plans (course plan) while I had several presentations in class. For all students who are going to UC, they need to pick up 3 campuses out of 8 in UC. That means I had to make 3 campus of study plan. I remember that was not easy to handle it at that time. Since my plan for major in UC is Chemistry, there are some difficulties to face in order to take chemistry course there because my major in Japan is International Studies, which is far from "Science"! Then most people except my instructors and some friends of mine don't agree with me but I'll hang in there. I need to review high school chemistry though.
There are 3 campuses that I've chosen.
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I handed study plans of each campus. Before applying for those campuses of UC, applicants (EAP reciprocity students) must pass each campus's required TOEFL CBT score. That ranges from 197 to 250(on paper based TOEFL, it's from 530 to 600). Below is the minimum scores for placement of EAP reciprocity students at the UC campuses.
CampusComputer TOEFLPaper TOEFL
UCB250600
UCD213550
UCI213550
UCLA213550
UCR213550
UCSB197530
UCSC220550
UCSD220550


Jan, 2003
For UC campus health requirements, routine vaccinations are required/recommended. Therefore I took blood test to examine if there are still antibodies of MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) in my blood. As a result, only Mumps is missing.

Feb, 2003
As I wrote it in "Diary", I got email from my uni when I was working at the chocolate shop. During a break, I checked the mail and read it. But it was sent to my cellphone and I couldn't read it all because it's too long to read. After coming back home, I also checked emails in my PC and got the same email. It said that they got email from UCI about my major at UC.
UC thinks I can't handle the major because my major in Japan is not related to Chemistry and I haven't studied Chemistry since I graduated high school. My uni said I should hand in other study plans of each 3 campuses again as soon as possible. I was shocked. I couldn't see the reason why I applied for this program anymore! After all, I handed in study plans but I couldn't give up taking courses related to chemistry so I changed only few courses of the former plans. And attached a message that I still want to take Chemistry. Few days later, I got email from UCI directly, and UCI accepted my study plan and major at UC. More a week later, I got air mail from UCI about Social Security Number. Since I have dual citizenship both Japan and U.S, UC thought I might have social security number as well. Though I never had SSN. Then I wrote UC that I don't have SSN. Well, I wonder what's gonna happen from now onward. And what about other 2 campuses?? I haven't got any emails or mails from other 2 campuses!

Mar, 2003
UC sent me "Work in Progress Form" by mail. From the mail, it's said that I have to hand in the latest grade on my study and what subject I'm going take this spring before going to UC. And this is the final information to hand in to UC. After that, the campus I'll attend is announced. So it'd be disclosed in May. ....However the campus is actually annouced unofficially to my university because it's been in reviewing process so that it can't be announced formally. The campus is UC, Irvine!! (^o^) Although most of students who're going to UC by using this program wanted to go to UCLA, I'm satisfied with the result(^^). Because UCI is good and famous enough!! Yeah!! I can't bump into hollywood stars though(kidding:p) To talk about the area, Irvine, It takes 1 hour to get to Irvine from LA by car. So not that far from the big city. Besides it's well seen asian people in the area. Anyway, the next step is to find the residence during my stay there. Ummm I'm considering if I live in Dorm or Uni appartment.

Apr, 2003
I've started to get busy from this month, like applying for housing and summer housing. I mean, the summer housing contract is separeted with housing for fall 2003. So I have to sign two contarcts separately even though the dorm I'm going to stay in summer and fall is the same one. Although I don't have to go to the states early before the fall quarter begins, I want to escape from my country and to take ESL course during the summer. It's like preparing for college life there. Gotta improve my English anyways. I've applied for Arroyo Vista housing that has several theme houses like house for transfer students, house for chemistry major students etc. 16-32 people can live in each house. It's like flatting. In order to apply for theme houses, I have to hand in statement on each house. I've applied for two houses- transfer house and Computer Science house. Will see which one I'm going to stay during this summer though. Since this is my first time to live in the states, I should live at dorm to get used to life there. For summer housing, I also applied for Arroyo Vista although only this time I'm going to stay in single room. There's an option to apply for summer housing when I applied for ESL course. However it's more expensive than applying by myself. So I decided to apply directly to the housing office on my own.Well, now I know that they get a lot of money from overseas students:p

May, 2003
.......to be continued

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