Jose Maria Acuna Mateo
BSBA 4 (October 2009)
Double Major: Marketing Management and Entrepreneurship

"Taidaima", as the Japanese say when they get back home.  After the longest 10 months of my life, my stay in Osaka, Japan, in 2008-2009, I am finally home. And it feels really good to be back.

To describe my exchange student experience at Osaka Gakuin University, it was both good and bad with some highs and lows. In fact, I experienced the lowest of my lows there and I conquered it with God by my side. With the challenges I faced, I could say I grew a lot as a person. Living with the Japanese has shown me three important values: respect, humility and perseverance.

I am grateful to the University of San Carlos for giving me the opportunity to broaden my world. Travelling and living in a place that's different from your own is truly an effective, and at the same time fun, way to learn. Another chapter of my life is about to start: employment. After graduating, I feel as though I have closed the formal education episode of my life. My trip to Japan gave it a memorable end. Many things in our lives end, whether we want it to or not. However, we must always remember that many beginnings happen too. We must look forward to these beginnings and let go, and learn, from our experiences that have ended.