Elizabeth Butler

From Lizzy Three years on from graduating, Hanami sensei wrote me a short note in Japanese on Facebook. My initial thought was ‘oh no, I won’t be able to read this,’ but I still could, hurrah! And a good thing too! I wrote back a message about what I’d been up to, which seems a bit random, but thus is the life of a Japanese major … After a year getting a master’s in Japanese, a year full of translating passages out of obscure Buddhist texts out of old books in dark, quiet libraries, I am now teaching high school in Manchester, England on a program a little like Teach for America. Not quite as quiet! I’m teaching Science (I majored in Biology too), but last year I ran an after-school Japanese club and the kids really wanted to learn Japanese! This year I’m tutoring one of the girls who was most interested in learning Japanese, and I might see if I can get her sponsored to a local Japanese class. But mostly, my days are full of kids, trying to cram some information in them and trying to keep them from killing each other. I’m back to the U.S. in the Fall, and probably going back to what I had originally intended to do – go to medical school. Fwew! Perhaps I’ve got the wanderlust if not the Zen of Basho.

Wendy Fnishes Her First Marathon

Wendy Schultz (2000), who went to Stanford after graduating from GW, has been working in database sales/marketing for the last five years. She recently started (and finished) her first full marathon in Miami.

Sarah in Japan

ジョージ・ワシントンだいがくのサラ・クーケックさんは、いま　にほんにいます。これは、ゆうめいな　みやじまの　しゃしんです。まえのほうが　クーケックさんです。

Scholarships and Financial Aid to Study Abroad in Japan

If you are going to Japan, be sure to apply for a grant to help defray your expenses. The deadlines for the following scholarships are in the beginning of October so be sure to hurry. The following are excerpts from the respective programs offering scholarships to those studying in Japan.

Freeman Asia

http://www.iie.org/programs/Freeman-ASIA/default.shtm

Freeman-ASIA (Freeman Awards for Study in Asia) is de-signed to support American undergraduates with demonstrated financial need who are planning to study overseas in East or Southeast Asia.

In the past, there have been few funding opportunities for study abroad in Asia. However, with the generous support of the Freeman Foundation, the Institute of International Education (IIE) now administers the Freeman-ASIA Awards in order to give more American undergraduate students the means to study in East and Southeast Asia.

Freeman-ASIA Award recipients are expected to share their experiences with their home campuses to encourage study abroad in Asia by others, and to spread greater understanding of Asian peoples and cultures within their home communities.

Since the launch of the program in 2000, Freeman-ASIA has supported over 2,500 U.S. undergraduates with their study abroad plans in East and Southeast Asia.

Bridging Scholarships

http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/Bridging/scholarships.html

The Association of Teachers of Japanese Bridging Project of-fers scholarships to American undergraduate students participat-ing in study-abroad programs in Japan. Funding from private foundations and major U.S. corporations has made it possible for ATJ to award 100 scholarships annually to assist students with the travel and living expenses they will incur while studying abroad in Japan for a semester or an academic year. Contribu-tors to the scholarship fund include Citigroup, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Estee Lauder Group of Companies, The Freeman Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin, Morgan Stanley, Nishimoto Trading Co., Shinsei Bank, The Starr Foundation, Teradyne, Toyota Motor Sales USA, and Weyerhaeuser.

Undergraduate students majoring in any field of study are eli-gible to apply for these scholarships. Japanese language study is not a prerequisite. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must be enrolled as undergraduates in a college or university in the United States before and during the time they are studying abroad.

Alison and Clark Get Married!

Allison Alvarez and Clark Munson (Class of 2004) got married in September. They had their reception in the Pittsburgh Aquarium.