First, let me say that I went to Kansai Gaidai back in '97-'98, and I had a great time. Like everyone else said, there's no way we can tell what your host family will be like, but they will more than likely be friendly and helpful. Just try to remember that this is a different country, and if they ask you to do somethings differently (even if it seems odd or illogical), try to respect their wishes. If you do, I think you will be just fine.
Kansai Gaidai recently built a new campus, and although I've never been there, I've heard that it's really nice. My one piece of advice to you would be to avoid hanging out with other foreigners. It's difficult to do when you have no other friends and you are struggling to communicate in Japanese, but if you truly want to become a translator, you need to get good, fast - and you won't do that speaking English with the other foreign students every day.
There are several clubs at Kansai Gaidai, and the members are always very willing to welcome you in. Participate in something that interests you, and you will quickly build a group of Japanese friends that you can rely on for support and language practice/help.
As for translation - this is something I've been doing lately myself. In my opinion, it's much better than teaching English (in terms of enjoyment and job satisfaction, but then everyone's different). One
STRONG piece of advice that I've mentioned before (but it bears repeating) is that translation companies/clients don't care if you have a degree in Japanese. They won't give you a job because you know how to speak/read/write Japanese and English. They will give you a job because you can speak/read/write Japanese and English
AND because you have a
strong grasp, in both languages, of the terminology in the field you are translating in.
In other words, you have to know your stuff when it comes to Marketing or Medicine or Computing, because the paying jobs in translation aren't going to be simple documents using everyday language. They are going to be highly technical documents using terminology like "crystal nucleating agent" or "present objective evidence of unobviousness" or "valence band."
Pick up solid knowledge in a field that has high demand in the J-E translation industry, pick up the Japanese language while you're doing it, and you'll be set up. Right now, the areas with the highest demand for J-E translation would be Marketing, Finance, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Chemical Engineering and Computers (both hardware and software).
I only say this because I learned this the hard way - and I would love to help others avoid the same. Take advantage of the fact that you are about to start your education and plan accordingly, because picking up the knowledge needed to compete in translation on your own time, and via self-study, is very demanding and difficult, to say the least.
hikari_01さん、which college are you going over to?
