Submitting the first draft of my MA thesis was a huge relief but it didn’t mean that the process was over, by any means. The other big events that we Rotary Peace Fellows had to prepare for was our thesis defense in front of our committee, the submission of our final, hardbound thesis, one last local Rotary club meeting and a large presentation at the annual Rotary Peace Seminar.

I was quite nervous for my defense but it went fine. I gave a fifteen-minute presentation about the highlights of my research and then my committee members had forty-five minutes to ask me questions about my methodology, results and things I would do differently next time. I wouldn’t say it was an enjoyable experience but it could have been much worse. After making the changes and edits that were suggested in the defense, I submitted the final, hardbound copy of my thesis, which was a huge relief. The ICU library keeps one copy and then I had an extra copy printed to take home for posterity.

The most stressful event, by far, was the Peace Seminar at ICU in which Rotarians from all over Japan gathered together to hear about our research and experience in order to better understand the investment of their donations and support. This was a long day because for each fellow there was a five-minute introduction, a fifteen-minute PowerPoint presentation and then a five-minute question and answer period. Along with this format for a total of ten fellows there were also speeches by university and Rotary administrators, an introduction of the new class of Rotary Peace Fellows and a summary of the latest Rotary Peace Fellow Hiroshima trip.

For me, preparation for this event was difficult and time-consuming because I decided that I wanted to do it in Japanese. This required 3-5 hours of translation and practice every day for three weeks. To get through it, I paid some Japanese ICU students and online tutors but the majority of help I received from daily mentoring from my volunteer neighborhood community tutors. Although the time commitment to do my speech was substantial and I doubted myself constantly, I’m very happy that I made the effort to do it and the result was really positive. I was the only fellow who gave the speech in Japanese and the audience really appreciated this effort; my presentation felt more interactive, understood and engaging because I did it in the native language of the attendees. Afterwards, several people approached me to talk about my speech and my Japanese and to thank me for making the attempt. To be honest, the translation and practice of my speech turned into an intense intergenerational and intercultural project with a meaningful outcome. For me, this was a much more enjoyable experience than writing and defending the thesis.

The final event that was the most fun for me was speaking at my last Japanese Rotary Club meeting. I was able to use the same speech from the seminar, which was particularly satisfying since so much work could be presented to two different audiences. Unbeknownst to me, the club had also prepared my last meeting as a surprise birthday party with a cake, singing and gifts, which was really special.

After all of the large, stressful events had finished, we were all able to breathe a communal sigh of relief and the overall anxiety level dropped dramatically. The rest of our time at ICU was probably some of the most relaxing and carefree as we celebrated completing our degrees, enjoyed the beautiful summer weather without feeling guilty for not writing/studying and spent as much time as possible with friend before having to say goodbye.