The GRM program is an interdisciplinary program and students like me who belongs to the Graduate School of Global Studies is exposed to courses and activities in the field of engineering. Throughout the program I am also able join and participate in common courses which includes internships, on-site practice, and field work. I have also had the opportunity to participate in joint-seminars and work with students and specialist with different specializations.
 
Upon my entry to the program in September 2014, I jointed the on-site practice in Kyushu to be able to familiarize myself with the nature of the program, to meet other students and to learn new knowledge. After the trip to Kyushu, I have gained knowledge on the different energy sources such as geothermal energy. I am also able to meet students from the program and from other leading programs. My first on-site practice made me realize the rich diversity of students specializing in different fields using their combined knowledge to come up with solutions to different problems.
 
In December 2014, April 2015, and September 2015 I have joined on site practice and fieldwork in Tokyo, Sendai, the Philippines, and United States which is relating to disaster management which is connected to my dissertation. My study is titled, the “The Role of Ecotourism in Resilience Building in Disaster Vulnerable Communities in the Philippines.” The study examines the contribution of ecotourism businesses to community resilience in disaster vulnerable areas. I have identified the contribution of the business through the "Resilience Indicators for Disaster Vulnerable Communities Engaging in Ecotourism," a framework which I have developed. Through the on-site practice and fieldwork, I was able to further study and learn about disaster management in the Philippines, the United Nations, and the World Bank. In parallel, I was also able to improve my skills in communication, collaboration, and research. I was able to work with diverse group of people, coordinate with different organizations, create project proposals, and deliver a presentation in front of different audiences.
 
In November 2015 to February 2016 I have been with the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB) in the Philippines to learn about Business and Biodiversity. Through ACB I was able to familiarize myself more with the ecotourism business and the ecosystem services. During the internship, I joined and help organize the ASEAN Conference in Biodiversity which was held in November 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. I was given the role to take part in the organization of the business and biodiversity stream to collaborate with different organizations, communicate, identify, and coordinate with speakers, and organize the schedules. Through the internship I was able to hone my skills in coordination, organization of international conference, networking, and communication. Moreover, I was able to visit several ecotourism sites in the Philippines and was able to select case studies for my dissertation during the internship.
 
In September 2016, I joined the Global Career Development Program in the Balkan region. There were three groups in the program which is the academic, international organization, and the private company group. I joined the private company group for the purpose of having a feel on how it is working in the private sector. The company selected is the Mitsubishi Belgrade Liaison Office located in Serbia. The span of the trip was just a few days and to be able to immerse myself more on the feel in a private company I returned in their office as an intern in March 2018. During the program I was tasked to familiarize myself in the chemical business and to create an action plan for new chemical businesses in the Balkan region. Although the task is to deal mainly with the chemical business, I was also given a chance to explore other business stream such as investments. During the internship program I did not only learn technical skills, but I was also able to improve my communication skills. Furthermore, I was able to integrate the global knowledge that I have gained as a GRM student with the local knowledge of the managers in the office and use it throughout the internship.
 
In summary, the GRM program is not a typical doctoral program. I was exposed to different people with different perspectives and approaches to problems and research. I had the opportunity to see the difference on the problem-solving approach of researchers from various fields and combine the knowledge that I have gained to solve problems with an interdisciplinary approach. I have expanded my knowledge and understanding of problem solving. In a typical program I would have made solutions to problems focusing on one lens, in my case, the global studies lens. However, as part of the GRM program, I have expanded my view and perspective. I learned not to be biased on a specific field but to create synergy to create solutions to problems which I have also applied in my dissertation. From the experiences in the GRM activities and classes I got a wider view of my research. I did not only focus on the policy component of ecotourism, but I was able to touch the community component as well as the business component of the study. Participating in different activities in the program helped me hone my skills in communication, and organization. Through the program I was also able to build confidence and networks that I wish to utilize in the future and more than the technical aspect I would say the GRM program helped me grow as a stronger person, with a critical and open mind.