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It is great how your appreciation of the past can grow with age. (Like wine, I suppose).
Back in 1997, I was fortunate enough to receive admission to the International University of Japan for a two year Masters program in International Relations.
The academics were great, but it was my classmates who really made it special.
There were people from over 40 countries and the insight they provided on the world helped truly prepare me for the globalized, “world is flat’ era in which we live.
What’s more, the promise of “a network of people around the world” has proven to be of immense satisfaction to me.
For example,
- A friend of mine is headed to Sarajevo, so I put him touch with Amer, a fellow IUJer who lives there.
- My kids and I were watching the Finland-Sweden Olympic hockey game, which gave me incentive to ping Heikki in Helsinki and reminisce
- Christiane drops me a note via LinkedIn. She and her husband are doing some exciting stuff in Kabul
These connections, forged in the rice fields of Niigata-ken, are really fascinating and very rewarding as I get to see the world evolve/develop from multiple perspectives.
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