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Educational Aboard Program (EAP) - Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan during Spring 2005

14 Dec 2005 I have returned from Japan for a semester now. It was an great experience, so great that it can't be expressed in words. Any ways, I notice my grade report was on the table of the Registrar Office on Nov 28th, 2005, and I have just checked my bearfacts grade today, I got all A's with 4 A+.
30 March 2005 Arrive in Japan. Japan is 17 hours ahead of US Pacific time for Spring.
29 March 2005 Got the telebear advisor code form filled out by my faculty adviser, and turned the advisor form in. Got the 2005 tax forms and finanacial aid FAFSA form mailed today. Took US$200 with me to the plane.
18 March 2005 Official Confirmed by email as the recipient of the JASSO Scholarship. I will be given the instruction for the scholarship once I arrive at Sendai.
12 March 2005 Went to the Consulate General of Japan to apply for Visa. My Visa will be mailed to me on 15th March by the prepaid USPS overnight Express. The application fee is US$10 because I am British. If you are an American, the Visa is free for you. Took 3 Nipponia magazine from the Consulate office, so I have a total of 5 hard copy of Nipponia now.
7 March 2005 Receive the Certificate of Eligibility from Tohoku University. Start applying for Visa tomorrow.
9 February 2005 Purchased the air ticket to Japan through airfare.com .
7 February 2005 Got a call from Kathy at UOEAP in the morning. I was told I won't get the air ticket to Japan from the JASSO scholarship because the date I have to be in Japan is too early for the scholarship. However, I will have a return ticket. This is the situation Tom (the one who was in Tohoku last year) had  a year ago.
4 February 2005 Got a phone call from UOEAP, saying I just got the JASSO scholarship. JASSO scholarship is like the biggest scholarship I have received so far.
29 January 2005 Paid $14 to join the Japanese Club all-you-can-eat-sushi to celebrate the new year (or new semester?). Met lots of people who learned Japanese so well, and met lots of Japanese. Besides Yasu, I remember their names are Ayumi, Jean, Alina, Amy, Mark, Glendon, Yuki, Naoki, Daniel, and Nelson.
13 January 2005 Received 3 documents via email from Tohoku University, a copy of the documents are attached here.
1 January 2005 Moved to a new apartment because of the EAP program. My rent changed from $416.66 to $376.66.
16 December 2004 Got a call from UOEAP about a little change UOEAP is going to make on my Tohoku Application form. It's about the money source, nothing serious.
13 December 2004 Sent out the completed Tohoku application form to Universitywide Office of Educational Abroad Program (UOEAP) (The long one)
2 December 2004 Attend the Tohoku Engineering program orientation. Basically the orientation only has my regional adviser (Louise Hon) and the only student at Berkeley, Tom Allen, who went to Tohoku during Spring 2004. I realized I am the only one selected to go to the only Engineering Program in English that is offered in Japan. That means no one is going to Japan with me. Got the phone number, email, and tons of advices from Tom.
11 November 2004 Received an email saying "Congratulations! You've been nominated for the EAP Program at Japan for Tohoku Engineering Spring of 2005." for the Berkeley Campus
9 November 2004 Revised the statement of purpose essay until 4am. Send back the revised essay to the Japan adviser Louise Hon. Someone told me my recommendation letter from my research class was filled out incorrectly. I took that recommendation letter to my professor for correction and resubmitted right away.
8 November 2004 Received an email saying my statement of purpose has inaccurate content, must be revised, and there was problem with one of my recommendation letter. I also went straight to another professor's office (CS 61C professor) to request another recommendation letter (the fourth recommendation letter) and the CS 61C professor promised to submit the recommendation letter the next day.
2 November 2004 Attended General Orientation for Spring 05 Departing Students
8 October 2004 Submitted the first Application (the short one) to Tohoku University with two recommendation letters from professors (from my BioEng 199 Research class and my EE 40 class) and one letter from my research mentor (a graduate student)
17 September 2004 Been told the Student Panel had no Japan EAP Student
16 September 2004 Emailed the first instructor Pinto for letter of recommendation
16 September 2004 Realized I missed the EAP student panel yesterday (15 September), not happy.
3 September 2004 The Japan EAP application is online for the first day, but the application should have been up on 27 August 2004 instead.
13 August 2004  Met the EAP advicer (Louise Hon) of Japan for the first time.

-Bill Hung
UC Berkeley