Hello, my name is Maikalani Peterson. I am majoring in Arts Management with a music concentration, and I am minoring in Film Studies. I am a junior who is currently studying abroad this semester in Hirakata, Japan at Kansai Gaidai University. I chose to do this program because I took two years of Japanese at the College of Charleston with Chikuma Sensei and Yamaji. They inspired me to study abroad in Japan. Some goals that I set for myself this semester is to become better at Japanese, make new friends, and to learn more about myself and my independence. I didn’t really do much research about my host country since I took two years of Japanese, we talked a lot of Japan’s culture while in class. Overall, I am so excited and grateful to be studying abroad this semester!