Why JET is Not for People With Established Lives

Coming to you live from my first day/night/I've-been-up-more-than-24-hours in Japan, it's me! Not that this hasn't been a great experience thus far, but I'd like to start off with a warning to any JET hopefuls reading this for insight and advice: being a non-recent university/college grad on this program is not easy. Here's why:

1. Probably 90% of the people in your arrival group are younger than you. Sometimes only by a year, sometimes by 6+ years. It can be hard to find things in common with these people in initial conversations, so you really have to dig sometimes (unless they happen to have an awesome/nerdy clothing item or accessory to open conversation easily; until you're actually boarding the plane and seeing people in their comfy clothes, this is unlikely to happen).

2. You probably have a real job you're leaving behind. I don't think that one needs anymore explanation.

3. You're probably living on your own, with furniture and belongings and now you have to find a place to put all that. You have a lot of junk to sort through, and unless you complete point two really early and become a hobo/dweller in your family's basement and just don't have any incoming cash for a while before you leave, you're going to have to go through it all in a stupidly short period of time. You'll forget things, run out of space for things, and spend a lot of time wondering what the hell you're doing and if it's worth it.

4. You have life experience. This makes a lot of basic orientation redundant, and really boring.

5. Going along with points 2 and 4, there will be a lot of useful information sessions and training you won't be able to attend, unless you happen to live within your departure city and have a day job.

I decided it was worth it anyway, and here I am. This is not even remotely meant as a deterrent. I just think others should really understand what they're getting into. A lot of these things hadn't occurred to me at the time, because everything I knew about pre-departure came from my friends who did the program. Six years ago. Straight out of university.