EF Stories: Misuzu Kashima from Japan at EF Manchester

1. Career and profile

After graduating from aviation school I worked for an airline company for 4 years.

2. Why I decided to study abroad

The main reason was that I wanted to expand career pursuits.

During my job, I had many opportunities to interact with foreign customers, and I felt the need to speak English every day.

The longer I worked in the aviation industry, the stronger I felt that I wanted to communicate more proactively with foreign customers, and to work in a way that conveyed things clearly in my own words, rather than repeating routine phrases.

I once gave up on studying abroad because it would take a lot of money and time, but now that I'm a working adult, I'm thinking about studying abroad again. I didn't want to have any regrets about what I should have done at that time when I got older. There were two reasons why I wanted to go even during the coronavirus pandemic. First, I didn't want to waste time. (I quit my job a month ago because I wanted to study abroad.) The second reason was because I thought there would be opportunities for me to have the experience that I needed then. The country I was originally planning to go to was Canada, but I was unable to enter the country at the scheduled time. When I consulted with the EF staff, I was told that it would be possible to go to England or Malta, so I hurriedly changed my destination to England. My intention was set from the beginning, but my parents were against it at that time, so it took me quite a while to convince them. Now, I am trying to alleviate my mother's anxiety as much as possible by sending photos of her daily life and making video calls.

3. What's your most memorable events during your stay?

I had my first time visiting a clinic abroad.

There were some surprising differences between the medical systems in Japan and the UK.

In Japan, you can decide which hospital you go to, but in the UK, no matter what your symptoms are, you must first go to a designated GP (General Practitioner) and be examined there.

As a general rule, patients cannot visit hospitals unless they are referred by a GP. Before studying abroad, I thought hospitals were a no-brainer, so I was quite nervous when I went to a medical practice overseas by myself.

Luckily I didn't have to worry too much because the teachers at school would always be there to help, but I felt that I needed to have good English skills to be able to clearly explain my symptoms.

4. What would you like to tell someone who is considering studying abroad in the same destination?

As mentioned above, I suddenly changed my study abroad destination to the UK due to the influence of the coronavirus. When I arrived there, there were more people than I expected who had changed countries just like me, and it was very reassuring to think that we were all the same. It's so much fun to meet so many people that I wouldn't have met if I had originally planned. When I arrived in Manchester, school had just started again, so I was lonely. But a month later I had three new roommates. I enjoyed my time much more than I expected before I left. I was a little worried because I had heard that the food in England wasn't very tasty, but it turned out to be better than I expected (lol).

Pubs are everywhere, and beer prices are cheap, so it might be a good option for people who like drinking. I often see people drinking at pubs from noon. Manchester is located in the center of England, so it has easy access to anywhere, and I highly recommend it. It rains a lot, so I recommend bringing a large umbrella and raincoat.