Reflections — A Snapshot of My Cansbridge Summer

Taken in Osaka.

“Time flies when you’re having fun”

is the perfect idiom to sum up just how fast 2.5 months have passed since I first landed in Tokyo at the end of June.

This got me thinking — why does time feel fleeting when we’re experiencing our best moments in life? With a little help from my good friend Google, a few psychology case studies pointed to an interesting answer:

“Time flies when you’re having goal-motivated fun.”

This summer, I had the privilege to be 1 of 15 Canadians to receive the Cansbridge Fellowship scholarship. The scholarship challenged us to find an internship in an Asian country where we did not speak the primary language. Although we were given some structure and expectations, this experience was meant to be self-organized. Given this, everyone’s experience was unique and will continue to be for years to come. Looking back, I have come to realize that this opportunity was goal-driven from the very beginning.

Here are my top highlights and insights from this awesome experience:

1. Your experiences are what you make of it.

A representation of all the choices we make in a day.

As mentioned, the Cansbridge experience will forever be unique for everyone. It has been incredibly empowering to be able to feel in control of what I wanted out of this trip.

We make about 35, 000 choices a day — how many of those are self-driven, motivated by others or just a habitual action on auto-pilot?

There were three distinct choices that I made that really added value to my overall experience:

1. The first was to commit to learning a bit of Japanese every week.
2. The second was to meet and spend time with at least one new friend each week.
3. The last was to do some solo traveling to places I cared about.

Learning Japanese — I’m proud to say I have learned Hiragana, Katakana, and a few basic conversational phrases on my own. I’ve always seen learning a new language as a window to new worlds and I definitely felt the effects of it throughout my time in Japan. In week one, everything felt foreign, except some English signs and some Chinese characters from Kanji. However, at the end of my trip, I found myself traveling on the subway or reading lunch menus with more ease as time went on. People in Japan and in Tokyo especially moved at such a fast pace that there was no time to wait for a train sign to change to the English translation, or to hold up a hungry lunch line by asking for the English menu. Although listening to Japanese conversation is currently still my weakest link, it was awesome to be able to chuckle at simple jokes at the bar or watch a Japanese advertisement without scratching my head. Adapting to a new language definitely added some color to my overall experience.

Meeting a new friend for the first time.

Meeting new people — one would be surprised at how little it takes to develop amazing friendships in a short amount of time. The secret recipe comes in 2 steps: 1) Be open about yourself and be open to learning about others. 2) Take initiative in doing something together. I bonded with people over the most random things! The first person I met outside of work bonded with me over my pimple (I had to take a photo for my ID card and she lent me her concealer) and the last person I hung out with walked through Shinjuku with me while talking about sustainability trends. Being with others created opportunities to try new or favorite things together and to share thoughts about different things. Being able to make friends in a short amount of time made me feel more confident about wanting to move to different cities in case an opportunity arises. It feels good to know that no matter where I end up, I have the potential to surround myself with a good support system of friends.

Solo traveling — after getting a 7- day JR pass, I packed a single bag and jumped to the following places: Kanazawa, Nara, Kyoto, Wazuka, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Naoshima Island, and Teshima Island. It was a combination of spontaneity and structure since I found myself changing my itinerary when the schedule did not go as planned. Traveling alone was definitely an interesting and challenging experience — I had to keep myself safe, entertained and well-organized throughout. One really positive thing about Japan is that it felt safe to travel throughout (although I still had to be logical about my choices), which made it easier to be open to new places. Seeing only Tokyo was definitely not enough for me — I did not want the busiest city to be the holistic representation of Japan, although I still have so much to see the next time I visit!

This picture marks one of my favorite travel memories — at 11 pm in Osaka, I had just arrived back at my hostel. I saw a couple of men smoking and hanging out on the couch looking super intimidating — should I walk past them and go straight to my bunk bed or sit on the couch with them? I decided to sit on the couch and I was asked politely by an artist if I wanted some tea. I nodded and asked what he was drawing. He smiled and showed me. We ended up striking a deal to draw each other as souvenirs.

This is one of many hostels I slept in during my trip across Japan. This one was located in Hiroshima.

2. Following your curiosity can lead to better experiences.

What is popular might not be what you’re really looking for — this was definitely the case for me. There were times when I felt underwhelmed by certain experiences that were considered “must-sees” by others. I’m still glad I tried them out, but it made me eager to try experiences that might be lesser known by others. For instance, one of my favorite part of the Kyoto area happened to be the rural farmlands of Wazuka, where matcha is harvested.

At the d:matcha tea farm in beautiful Wazuka, part of a 4,000 person village in rural Kyoto.

I took a tea course and learned so much about the process that it made me appreciate the final product more. It might not have been everyone’s cup of tea (haha) but it definitely was mine because it was something I was genuinely interested in trying. In addition, I found a lot more depth in that experience. I learned about the startup story behind the CEO and why he left being the president of a donut chain venture in the big cities to start a tea farm in a town with less than 4,000 people.

Naoshima Island’s Yellow Pumpkin from famous Yayoi Kusama. As a lover of art, the whole island became my playground and I indulged in my curiosity all day long.

I also found joy in visiting the lesser-known islands in Okayama called Teshima Island and Naoshima Island. Both were filled with beautiful art museums and nature. To be honest, Teshima Island was more or less a mistake — I had left Osaka for Naoshima without realizing that the island was closed on Mondays. Out of curiosity, I took a ferry to Teshima and really enjoyed the experience. The absence of tourists and the quiet company of nature-inspired me to sketch for hours alone near the docks.

Applying the concept of travel to making choices in life — what is popular might not always be what is right for you. I do believe in the mantra of following your curiosity because it can lead you one step closer to who and where you want to be. It allows you to create your own hypotheses on what “living” should feel like and gives you the opportunity to conduct a series of experiments to prove or disapprove those theories.

3. Learning to be with yourself is an invaluable skill.

Chasing the sunset on a ferry ride to Teshima Island.

Being alone was one of the greatest challenges throughout this journey. I experienced moments of self-doubt and loneliness every couple of weeks, especially when I had time to ponder.

This was a new experience for me, and I mentioned in my first blog post about how I was not used to being on my own. I slowly learned how to fill my time in meaningful ways, and it ties back to the beginning of this blog post — I had to find myself some goal-motivated fun!

From learning how to kickbox to learning how to speak a new language, things that challenged me made these moments of isolation a lot more bearable. In fact, sometimes I genuinely forgot I was by myself because I was so focused on creating something new. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn this new skill, since it was a sustainable way to go through life.

It is a reminder that we are responsible for our own happiness.

Final Thoughts

Typhoon warnings meant a lot of flight and train delays. I had to cancel my flight 12 hours beforehand and find a new flight, only to find out that this plane was delayed as well. I ended up spending two whole nights in the airport!

I’m writing my final remarks in the hallways of Haneda airport in Tokyo. I’m stuck in my third typhoon (you can read about my first typhoon experience here) of this journey and had to sleep outside of a ramen shop on the top floor due to some flight delays.

This trip has been one of the most impactful experiences of my life, despite having flight delays as part of the finale. The country still excites me even though I’ve already had so many adventures so far. I am coming out from the other side of this trip with personal growth, travel stories, new friends and a little bit more confidence in my ability to create my own opportunities. In the end, the lesson is clear — the journey itself was more important than the destination.

Thank you again to the Cansbridge Fellowship and the friendships I’ve made in this community. This has truly been the best summer of my life and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for all of us!