I’m finally done with school, at least until I decide I want to do research and start going for my Master’s. I’m throwing this together to answer some of the most recurring questions.
What are your plans for the immediate future?
As it stands right now, I’ll be going on the JET program to an as-yet-unknown location in Japan, to teach English. This is a one year program, easily extended up to 2 more years if I find that I really enjoy doing it. I leave to start that job in late July.
What about your plans for the summer?
Until my job starts, I’m going to do my best to generally slack off and do very little work apart from brushing up on my Japanese, as I’ve been working hard for the past 2 years without much of any type of break at all. So no, no summer job, and no university classes, and no applications, and no damn paperwork. From my perspective the people who ask this question expecting me to keep myself busy fit right along in the same category as people who would ask a question like, “Why are you going to sleep for 8 hours tomorrow night? Wasn’t three hours enough the past two weeks?”
Wait, you’re graduating with a Computer Engineering degree and you’re going off to teach English?
I expect a lot of people not to understand the concept of taking a job because you might enjoy doing it, or because it gives you an opportunity to live somewhere different, or because it allows you to try something OTHER than what you’ve been doing for the past five years. To those of you in that boat, I sincerely hope you really love your jobs. As I’m not currently tied down to a particular location or a particular person or a particular company, and I have a college degree, I find myself in an incredibly convenient position; I can take whatever type of job I damn well please. I don’t intend on making a career out of it, but I’m a rather frugal individual, and I’ll be able to live under reasonable means.
What are you going to do after that?
People keep asking me what I’m going to do after that. If the offer from Professor Nishizeki still holds up (to do a Master’s at Tohoku), I might just do that. Or I might do a Master’s elsewhere. Or I might take a job with a big company, or I might take a job with some government organization to take care of the NSEP thing. I haven’t decided yet, as it’s over a year in the future. From my perspective, that is a very very long time. I should also mention that not all of us human beings plan our entire lives out to the smallest degree. So the answer to the question is a very firm I don’t know. And I’m very glad I don’t.
Congratulations! :) I’ll be graduating this August… Be sure to post some photos when you stop by Sendai. ^-^ When are you leaving for Japan?
I leave around July 22nd… there’s an orientation in Tokyo for a few days and then it’s up, up to the north!