[Hatredcopter]

I did an exchange last year, for the academic year. It was at Nanzan University in Nagoya. It lasted approximately 9 months, plus another 2 month internship that I did after that. All my courses were related to Japan and the Japanese language. I had intensive Japanese courses (several hours of Japanese learning every day), courses on Japanese history, Japanese economics, Japanese politics, Japanese communication, linguistics, and translation.. the works, I suppose you could say.

Nanzan is particularly geared to international students (although only a fraction of their students are from another country). The Japan-related courses are all taught in English and the university runs on the September to May school year that people are used to in most Western countries, as opposed to the April to March schedule that exists at most Japanese schools. The campus was beautiful and the staff there were very friendly and open, as well as helpful toward students who didn't know a lot of Japanese to begin with.

There were some language problems in my daily life outside of school, but your Japanese skills improve very quickly when you study and live in Japan, so that problem went away rather quickly (after a couple months). For my first semester there, I stayed with a wonderful host family that I still write to on a daily basis. The second semester I stayed in international dormitories right by the school.

The exchange was expensive, but it was completely worth it - I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I could, but I'm set to start working in Japan after I graduate next spring :D

Anyway, that's the condensed version of my study abroad/exchange experience. If you have any specific questions, ask away.