Jera Guevarra

“It’s not yet over!” that’s what I told myself when finally it’s our time to leave the dormitory. I couldn’t believe how 1 month passed by so quickly. And I felt like we were just starting to genuinely get used to and enjoy the Japanese way of life. We’ve made so much memories together I didn’t even know when to start. From karaoke to having to try alcoholic drinks with friends, these things are the ones worth remembering for. When I came to Japan, at first, I didn’t realize how much fun I would have. I thought it’s just going to be purely studying and a bit of sight seeing and exploring Japan. But, as the days went on, I realized that for these things to work, we needed to be able to work together in harmony as a group.

I started realizing that we live in the same dormitory, we see each other oftentimes and because of these, we got to know each other in deeper levels. I think the most interesting challenge we got to face was how to balance our similarities and differences. It wasn’t just among the University of Calgary students, but also amongst the Japanese students. Despite of the culture differences, we managed to live together happily in the dormitory. We divided some cleaning duties in the kitchen and washrooms, the Japanese students ensured that they help us since Canadian students are not used to it. I also loved how the RPs organized events for us. It’s not just the time that they a lot for those events that I appreciate, it’s also the money they were willing to spend just to spend time with us. Another experience that I would never forget is when I study among the RAs and RPs at the lounge areas. We get to help each other with our assignments, especially with English and Japanese. They also toured us around, not just within Tokyo but we went to places like Kamakura, Enoshima, and Yokohama. So far this year, this trip was one of the best experiences I had not just because it was fun, but mostly because it was an experience where I learned so many life skills I didn’t have before like making new friends and living with them in harmony.

Zachary Man Him Koo

I don’t know where and how to start, but this one month was definitely one of the best month I had every spent in my life.

When I first came to Japan, my initial thought and expectation is that I will only learn about Japanese language and their culture. However, as time goes on, I realized that I am actually learning so much more than just knowledge itself. Travelling with a group is a lot harder than I expected. I had lived in Canada for 8 years now by myself. My parents lives in Hong Kong, so in Canada, I had to take care of myself without any others helping me. Therefore, since I had lived by myself for so long now, I thought I knew what independent means. However, this group study had taught me that independent isn’t just about how well you can take care of yourself. Instead, it is about how well you can adapt to your environment and your flexibility. I learnt how to communicate with others better, how to accommodate and support others students in the group.

During this trip, time is also very limited. Since we have school every weekday, and tons of other activities outside school time, I was very overwhelmed by the amount of workload we had. However, as time goes on, I learnt to be a better time manager and slowly able to adapt the fast paced environment. This showed me that as long as I put in the effort and time, I can overcome those hardships, which motivated me to keep on trying harder in life to achieve better results.

The activities we went to are also very fun and educational, such as kabuki, calligraphy, sumo club visiting, elementary school visiting etc. I learnt so much about Japanese traditional culture, which made me wanted to stay in Japan even longer just to learn their culture more. Most Japanese people are extremely nice. Teachers and students are very helpful which enabled me to learn so much Japanese language in such a short time. This trip is overall a very interesting and educational experience. I would highly encourage anyone to try if you have the chance to.

Thank you so much for reading our blogs!

Contributor: Zachary Koo

Introduction

We will explore various aspects of the Japanese university campus life and compare with those of the University of Calgary. Aspects from the facilities on campus to daily lives of university students will be discussed.

In the first week, we will be focusing on the academic and non-academic aspects of campus facilities based on observations, such as library (academic), gyms and food courts (non-academic). Topics we might focusing on are what facilities are present in Senshu University (Comparing to University of Calgary), where they are located, how might the facilities differ from the one we have in Canada, how active/occupied they are and many others.

In week 2, we will focus on Japanese students’ pastime activities. Their Social life and part-time jobs will be our main focus. We will interview students around campus to see what they do after school. Through the interviews, we could answer questions like do Japanese students hang out with friends or work regularly, how much time they spend on these activities and why they need a part time job. After all, we will compare Canadian students’ pastime activities to Japanese students, and see whether Canadian students spend more time on these activities than Japanese students.

Near the end of our stay in Japan, we will discuss our personal impressions on various aspects of the university classroom settings, both the physical layout of the classroom and the interpersonal interactions within the classroom. Any interesting differences or similarities noted between Japan and Canada will be discussed as well. For example, we will try to answer questions such as: are there differences in the equipment used, such as PowerPoint slides versus whiteboard?

In relation to the students’ campus life , another topic we want to focus on is about how the students balance their engagement in their academic activities and extracurricular activities. It is known that in both Canada and Japan, some university students are interested in joining various clubs in campus and enjoy participating in activities outside their academic path. We will be comparing the number of clubs in universities in Japan and Canada. We will also feature some interesting clubs that we might find in both Japanese and Canadian universities.  This topic will also give us insights if Japanese and Canadian students find importance in having extracurricular activities while trying to do well with their academics.