Greetings! I’m Oakley, a student from Rollins College double majoring in international business and Asian studies. Last fall, I studied in Shanghai at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. This summer, I studied at Peking University in Beijing.

I, unexpectedly, came home for about six days before my program with Kansai Gaidai in Japan starts this fall. It has been quite a busy and hectic summer but I am excited to begin the next chapter of my studies. This is the first time I’ll spend more than just a couple days in Japan ever since I deployed there for seven months in 2013. I look forward to the experiences and new perspective as a civilian rather than in the military–especially considering I’ll have a much better opportunity to learn as much as I can about the culture, language, and more while building and maintaining friendships with the locals. My plane will board shortly, I’ll update you in a couple weeks!