Culture shock is a fear that everyone seems to have, but many also wish to experience it firsthand through travel. I was one of those people. When I first arrived in Japan, I was a babe lost in the woods of language barriers and cultural differences. I was wandering around Haneda Airport for most of my 2-hour layover, second-guessing the directions that were given to me. When I arrived at Okayama Airport, I spent 5 minutes trying to translate the name of my hotel to the cab driver. The first day of the Discovery Program’s orientation was spent doing mountains of paperwork that felt so unnecessary at the time.
The Polyphony 