RIC Student Takes Her Love For Adventure to Japan
Lilah Clark is all about adventure and experiencing the world, which is one of the reasons why she chose a major in global studies at Rhode Island College.
“I’ve always loved history, political science and government,” she says. “Global studies incorporates those fields and so many other facets of the world, such as economics, marketing, anthropology and archaeology. My interests really encompass the world.”
Slowly the 22-year-old has been making her way around the world, beginning with a trip last year to France to visit a fellow gamer who she met online. Last semester she traveled to Japan with the help of RIC’s Study Abroad Office.
An avid gamer and anime lover, Clark has had a lifelong interest in Japan. Her second cousin is half-Japanese and Clark herself began studying the language five years ago. But landing in the birthplace of anime took that allure to an entirely different level.
For four months she studied at the J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, taking classes that covered the culture, history and language of Japan. Coursework incorporated excursions that included visiting the oldest Buddhist temple – Sensō-ji; renting kimonos and waddling around the courtyard of the temple in wooden sandals; and bathing in an onsen (a natural hot spring). On weekends, Clark hopped on a train and explored Tokyo on her own.
“There was always something exciting going on. I wandered into a street festival where a monkey was doing tricks, I walked into huge pop-up shops that sold limited-edition anime collectables and I visited stores dedicated to specific anime studios and publishers,” she says.
And as they say “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Clark observed and followed the customary forms of Japanese decorum, such as saying thank you (arigatō) and then bowing respectfully.
She also had the opportunity to interact with the Japanese on an informal level.
“There’s a kindergarten housed on the first floor of our dorm. They asked if any of us would like to volunteer to chaperone the children on a field trip. They were going on a scavenger hunt at a nearby park to find different shapes in nature. The children came to me with the objects they found, and my job was to approve or disapprove of their choices. It was so much fun, and I was able to practice my Japanese. I spoke to the children in both English and Japanese.”
Clark’s plan is to live abroad; perhaps teach English in Japan. Once you go abroad, you never want to sit at home for too long again, she says, and she strongly encourages RIC students to study overseas.
“Anyone can afford it because there’s so much financial aid and scholarships available,” Clark says. “It may seem scary, and it’s definitely difficult adjusting to a new way of life, but people are nice – people are people no matter where you go and they understand that you’re from far away.”
Clark also suggests learning as much as you can about the culture of a country beforehand: “I searched out Japanese YouTubers and watched their videos of actual life in Japan, so I could get an idea of what it’s actually like. Don’t refer to things like anime and TV. Watch real people and you’ll get a pretty good glimpse of what life is like.”
Once you arrive in the host country … “Explore as much as you can,” she says. Take it from a lover of adventure.
To learn more about study abroad, visit the Office of Study Abroad.
Also see Global Studies B.A.