The Transition Period After My Bachelor’s Degree (After October 20, 2018)

After finishing my Bachelor’s degree in October 2018, I didn’t head straight back to my hometown — I still had responsibilities as Coordinator of Teaching Assistants for the Advanced Physics Lab until December 2018. During that same period, I was also preparing for my third attempt at the JLPT N3 Japanese language exam in December 2018. The effort paid off, and I passed. I’ll share more about my Japanese language learning journey in a separate post.

Toward the end of 2018 (I don’t remember the exact month), I had the chance to attend a seminar at ITB about graduate study opportunities at Hiroshima University. I was drawn to it because several of my Physics professors at ITB were alumni of that university. After the seminar, I started looking for a professor whose research aligned with my interests.

Once I found a good match, I reached out right away to ask if he was open to taking on international students. Fortunately, he replied quickly and said yes. However, he also let me know there was no scholarship available — I’d need to find my own funding for tuition and living expenses. I tried applying for the MEXT Scholarship (the Japanese government scholarship), but unfortunately didn’t get it — most likely because my research plan wasn’t as strong as it needed to be during document screening.

Still, luck hadn’t run out. A senior of mine — who graduated the same time I did, but at the Master’s level — introduced me to the NIMS-GRA (NIMS Graduate Research Assistantship) program. I applied for the program alongside her, and I’ll share the full details in the next post.

Key Lesson: Never Give Up

This journey taught me that even when one door closes, there’s almost always another path forward. Stay persistent, and keep trying.