My Adventure in the Land of the Rising Sun

UMD Study Abroad Blog

Academics

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So far, studying in Kyoto is a really nice experience. I enjoy walking to school and being greeted at the entrance in the morning. The various events that different organizations put on are also pretty cool. I was able to figure out where my classes were pretty easily too, which was a relief.

My schedule on Monday and Tuesday consists of just the two daily periods of Comprehensive Japanese. Monday’s class is before the lunch break and Tuesday’s class is after the lunch break. During lunch time on Tuesday, I meet with my Japanese Conversation Buddy, though so far I have been eating at home before our meetings. On Wednesday, my classes start later in the morning. I have my Kanji class before lunch and my daily Comprehensive Japanese after lunch. Thursday and Friday are both early starts. I have 4 periods of classes on Thursday; my daily double period of Comprehensive Japanese, followed by International Negotiation and Special Japanese 6. This is my fullest and longest day of classes. On Friday, I have my Comprehensive Japanese class and Current Japanese Society.  Usually get home around 6 pm every day but Monday.

The Comprehensive Japanese classes are taught by a different professor each day, except Wednesday where the professor switches out during the break between periods. Typically we have a vocabulary quiz to start class. After that, some professors have us do book work while others have us pair up or go around the room asking and answering a question that is part of the current lesson. Sometimes we do both. PowerPoints and picture cards are also employed and read aloud by the class. The students in my Comprehensive Japanese class are other international students from different countries. International Negotiation and Special Japanese 6 also have Japanese students in them. Special Japanese 6 is a class for studying Japanese animated films and thinking about how they compare to Disney films. 

Got this cute little guy in Ise

My favorite place so far at the university is the outside sitting area near the cafeteria and the bookstore. I like to sit there to eat my lunch. At the moment, the eat thing I have discovered at my university is NINJA. This is the place that runs the Japanese Conversation Buddy program and they hold interesting events like eating lunch with some animals. The second best would be all the different places to get food on campus, which will give me the opportunity to try some more Japanese foods. Plus, it’s good to know about them in case I am unable to prepare lunch in time for class.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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