By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications

“Nothing was as different [from my previous travels] as going to Japan," said international development studies major Max Odle of his study abroad program at International Christian University in Tokyo.

This article was written as part of UCLA's commemoration of International Education Week 2025.

UCLA International Institute, November 12, 2025 — Senior Max Odle (UCLA 2026) originally hoped to go to college out of state, but changed his mind when UCLA accepted him. “I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to pass this opportunity up.’ It was my best option,” said the native San Franciscan.

He started at UCLA as a pre-psych major, but quickly switched to international development studies after a friend recommended the program, and later added a conservation biology minor.

After taking International Development Studies 1 (IDS 1)  with Joseph Wright, Odle was hooked. “I really like the diversity of subjects that you get to study in the IDS major. It’s not just political science or sociology or geography; you’re not locked into one. Plus there are so many different options you can take [in terms of courses],” he said.

Study abroad expands cultural experience

When looking for a study abroad program, Odle decided to go to Asia, a continent to which he had never traveled.

“I’ve been to Europe, I’ve been to Mexico and Nicaragua, and last summer I went to Serbia,” he explained. “I’d heard good things about a number of programs in Asian countries, but I consistently heard great things about Japan by people who had studied there.”

In the end, he spent the fall 2024 quarter of his junior year at International Christian University (ICU) in the western outskirts of the greater metropolitan Tokyo.

“Nothing was as different [from my previous travels] as going to Japan. If you put Americans in Tokyo, it would go up in flames,” he reflected. “The Japanese want to keep their cities clean. And they want to be respectful to one another.”

He was deeply impressed that he could leave his unlocked bike in front a store for seven hours while he went to downtown Tokyo, and the bike would be there when he returned. “In LA or San Francisco, it would be gone in 10 minutes,” he reflected.

Altogether, the IDS major spent a little over three months in Japan: 11 weeks in classes, plus a total of three weeks before and after his studies. ICU offers bilingual education, so all five of Odle’s courses were taught in English, with classes limited to 30–35 students. “All my professors knew me by name,” he said of his classes, which earned him 18 UCLA credits.

The hardest class he took turned out to be the one in which he earned the highest grade: International Law, taught by a Japanese expert in international refugee law. “It was my favorite of the classes that I’ve taken,” he said, “but it was unbelievably difficult. One assignment was to write a ceasefire agreement !” (His team wrote one for the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza.)

Lack of Japanese language skills made it challenging to befriend Japanese students, but Odle met a few who spoke English in club volleyball. He really enjoyed attending a professional Japanese volleyball game with one. Another, who is actually a semi-professional player in Japan, later visited the U.S. and stopped by UCLA to see Odle.

The Bruin senior travelled with friends to the cities of Kyoto and Kanazawa, but spent most of his time exploring the greater Tokyo region. “Our university was located in the city of Mikata, on the western outskirts of Tokyo. We were on the Chuo Main Line, and there are many little cities along that line,” he said. He spent his weekends doing day trips with fellow study abroad students: They would get on the train line for an hour or two, get off at a city and explore its environs.

“One day we went river rafting, which is crazy if you know how big Tokyo is — I’ve never seen anything that big. But within two hours, we were in a mountainous region and went river rafting!”

Asked his advice for UCLA students thinking of studying abroad, he responded, “I would say what another student said to me: ‘Go somewhere you would not go otherwise. Get out of your comfort zone.’”

Return to UCLA and looking ahead

Odle came back to his IDS major with a better idea of what constitutes good development practice. “You cannot develop other countries by sitting in an office somewhere in the U.S. and making decisions,” he said. “You have to know the culture. If I were to make development decisions based on what I think is right from the U.S. perspective, it would likely contradict Japanese values.”

The Bruin senior will take one more adventurous educational trip before he graduates next June. His spring quarter 2026 will be devoted to a marine biology research course in which students spent two weeks at UCLA, five weeks doing underwater scuba research in Mo’orea, French Polynesia (northwest of Tahiti) and then return to campus to finalize their research over the final three weeks of the quarter.

Although Odle is still considering future career possibilities, it seems certain that whatever path he chooses, travel will continue to figure largely in his life and learning.

All photos provided by Max Odle.

Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2025