Ashley Angell is a second year Chemistry major at 91福利, who recently interned abroad in Tokyo, Japan.
Ashley had been to Japan once before to drop her brother off for his own study abroad trip. She enjoyed her time so much that it inspired her to look for a study abroad program in Japan for herself.
She chose to apply for the KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia award, a grant-funded scholarship opportunity for 91福利 students to pursue a summer internship program in Asia, because she wanted to work on her professional skills. After receiving the competitive KSU Freeman Fellows award, she chose the Beyond Academy Internship in Tokyo, Japan program. The program provided her with the opportunity to intern in Tokyo, without having her fully commit to learning the Japanese language.
Though competitive, Ashley found the process of applying to the KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia award fairly straight forward. She suggests that other students who want to apply to the KSU Freeman Fellows should try to make their applications personal and really explain how they would benefit from the program. As part of the application, Ashley also needed to propose a service project to help raise awareness about the KSU Freeman Fellows and education abroad opportunities in Asia. Ashley said that she made her post-abroad service project focused on STEM students, since it can be difficult for majors like hers to study abroad.
Interning in Tokyo, Japan
Ashley found Beyond Academy, the internship provider company she applied through, to be very helpful with applying for an internship. Beyond Academy provided templates and everything she needed to know before her interview.
Ashley said that if you get an interview, you are almost guaranteed you won鈥檛 fail. Beyond Academy prepares you for the interview process with a prep interview that helps you work on skills you may not have had before.
For her internship, Ashley did market research with Frost and Sullivan, a global consulting company in Tokyo. Her position was less internship focused, and more about having the experience of a full-time employee. She loved being able to get direct feedback from supervisors and having her research used in presentations given to other companies to consult with.
Ashley felt she got to utilize her skills well, even though her internship was not tied to her major. The internship taught her how to write differently than she did when studying chemistry. In her major, you must explain every step of the process in writing, while for marketing, writing must be short and concise to get a point across quickly. Ashley worked a lot on her communication skills and learned how to make things visually aesthetic. Her internship abroad experience showed her how a professional environment works, and how her skills could transfer to other areas of work.
Ashley also learned cyber security skills, and how to use AI responsibility. The company she interned in used AI to do secondary research. Ashley explained how the AI would provide a large scope of information with a small amount of text, and that she would use the links it provided to verify that the information was correct. She learned that using AI responsibly involved using as few prompts as possible to get what you need and having to be ambiguous with what you want. Since her workplace was confidential on what they did, it taught Ashley how to be careful with AI and what she tells it since it could cause problems for the company if it learned something it wasn鈥檛 supposed to.
Learn more about internship experiences in Tokyo, Japan with Beyond Academy.
Ashley鈥檚 Experience in Tokyo
Not only did Beyond Academy help Ashley secure an internship abroad, but they also provided support in Tokyo and hosted weekly events for the interns. Some of these events would be supported by Beyond Academy, and others would cost about 1000 yen (around $6.50) to attend. The events would focus on Japanese culture, ranging anywhere from a dinner to visiting Mount Fuji, which Ashley got to go to. Karaoke nights and visiting night markets were also some of the events Ashley attended during her time in Tokyo.
The Beyond Academy events are a good way to meet new people and make friends. According to Ashley, the number of students/interns who attend dwindle as the summer goes on, since by then many have found friends to travel and hang out with. Ashley did not find it difficult to make friends with others participating in the program or talk to people in the workplace.
Ashley tried a lot of different foods while in Japan, including grilled chicken hearts, which she said were very chewy and probably the most different thing she tried. Her favorite thing she tried in Tokyo was katsu, which led her to show her friends a good katsu restaurant she had found on her previous trip to Japan.
Ashley鈥檚 favorite part about interning in Tokyo was getting to meet all the people she considers best friends now. She was also able to go on a lot of extra excursions, visiting Kamakura and Enoshima.
Looking Back on Interning in Tokyo, Japan
Ashley believes that her experience interning in Tokyo showed her that she can handle new challenges. She learned a lot from living in another country alone and not knowing the language that well. It taught her to persevere through the unexpected.
She also thinks her internship with Beyond Academy encouraged her to try harder in her Japanese classes back at 91福利. She is more dedicated now, after realizing how much more there is to learn. The experience as a whole has helped her understand things above her scope of knowledge and has made things less scary. She feels less intimidated by her classes now and has learned how to break things down into smaller segments to make it easier.
Advice to Future Study or Intern Abroad Students in Japan
鈥淧lease go out and do everything that you possibly can.鈥
Ashley said that you will regret it if you don鈥檛 take all the opportunities, you can. If you take chances and try new things, you will come back with great memories.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e never going to be in the same spot with all those people again at the same time, even if you schedule a meetup, it's not ever going to be the same.鈥
She urges students to enjoy their time studying or interning abroad, and to keep a diary of their thoughts and experiences. Because of the Beyond Academy events, she didn鈥檛 have much trouble meeting people and got to know all the other interns. Ashley emphasizes that everyone else is in the same situation, worried they won鈥檛 make friends, and it leads to unexpected connections.
Want to have an experience like Ashley鈥檚? Apply for the KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia award.
