This program gave me the opportunity to explore unfamiliar disciplines such as agriculture and whaling, which are subjects I had never previously considered. To my surprise, I found many of the lectures engaging even without prior knowledge in the field.
One of my most favorite experiences, however, was living with my fellow students at the hotel. The mixture of all the different nationalities, ages, majors, and personalities made every single night so special and enabled us to connect on a much deeper level. Onsen, meals, and just talking activities really made us into a tight community and helped us connect. They all really enriched my time in Kyoto so much and showed me what cultural coexistence and cultural exchange really mean. All of this really supported me in my decision to continue learning Japanese and improving my language skills so that I may come back and connect with these people further.
印象的だったのは、日本語でのディスカッション授業です。自分の意見とは異なる立場でも、一生懸命ディベートを行う姿勢に感心しました。また、ルームメートと予想以上に仲良くなれたことも大きな思い出です。夜はまるで修学旅行のようで、笑いの絶えない時間を過ごしました。文化体験では和菓子作りや能、落語に触れ、フィールドトリップでは滋賀県を訪れ、美しい自然や歴史の魅力を感じました。
幸せな経験をたくさん得られましたが、少し後悔していることもあります。私は内向的な性格で、出会ったばかりの人と話すときには、時々言葉がうまく口から出てきませんでした。そのせいで、毎日、特に日本語の授業や発表の準備のときに「私は他の人に迷惑をかけているのではないか」と考えてしまいました。それでも、最後まで皆が優しくて、友達になってくれたことが本当に嬉しかったです。これは少し大げさかもしれませんが、たくさん友達ができるのは、私にとって大きな幸せです。いつか機会があれば、また日本に行き、みんなと一緒に時間を過ごしたいです。将来は修士課程への進学を目指しており、もし機会があれば、京都大学に進学したいと考えています。
My favourite part of the program was being able to talk to lots of new people who are in my age group.
What I love most about this program is the warm welcome I've received from the professors and students at Kyoto University. The professors are always willing to help me whenever I have questions, and they actively participate in all program activities. Additionally, the Kyodai students have left a great impression on me. They are always patient in listening to me, and they diligently teach me Japanese. We have also created many happy memories together.
京都サマープログラムのおかげで、英語を話すことへの抵抗がほとんどなくなった。私の英語はまだ拙いが、積極的に英語を話し、精進しようと思う。 また、住んでいる国が違っても、英語で意思疎通することができ、友達になっている留学生たちを見て、英語を話せるようになりたいと強く感じた。
I liked that it offered us various experiences so that we could make use of the 2 weeks to the fullest. The free days, field trip and cultural experience made the whole experience richer and I loved that we could travel in Kyoto when we didn't have class. Also, the student leaders accompanying us to the summer festival then hanging out with us for suika wari was really nice because it allowed us to do things that we would not have known if we had just been left to ourselves. For the actual program activities, I enjoyed English discussions because I it stimulated my learning and motivation for studying, and I learned a lot about various topics and viewpoints by talking with other students. I also liked the Japanese classes. They were very compact and fun.
京大生や留学生は皆、独自の考えを持っていて、親しみやすかったです。プログラムが終わったら、また台湾で会おうと約束もできました。
興味がある授業を自由に選択できたことと、リーダーさんたちが積極的にさまざまなイベントを開催してくれたことが良かった。またディスカッションを英語で沢山経験できたのが有意義だった。
Once of the best thing I liked about the program is definitely the interaction that we had with the Kyoto Students and definitely the bonding that we developed during these two weeks. I think what we don't notice the most is the effort that the KU students made to ensure that we feel comfortable and not left out. A lot of us didn't come with our friends and majority of us have almost no knowledge of Japan, so it was really heartwarming to see that the KU students wanted to interact with us even outside of school and on our free days!
日本人と外国人の友達ができた。色々なことを一緒にやって、とても楽しかった。 あとはたくさん日本語話せること。初めてこんなに日本語を話すチャンスがあるので。 とてもうれしかった。
What is effective as an academic program is the combination of lectures and student activities. Especially, ILAS Discussion is completely up to students, and they can join it actively.
I liked the interaction between international and japanese students very much. The lab visits were a lot of fun. The japanese language classes also were very nice. I liked the kamogawa :).
I think the interaction and conversation with other international students and Japanese students (both KU students and KU leaders) were the aspects that I liked the most. I think I learned a lot from different cultures which help me to gain more well-rounded perspectives from the world. Also, I really love when we as a group going out to do some activities together, whether its part of the program (field trip) or held by the leader (hiking in Daimonji Mountain). We had so much fun and so many wonderful memories.
KSP makes me more sophisticated and open minded. Thank you so much.
Giving students a choice from 11 classes was also great since it allowed us to manage the time difference better and tailor our schedule to our interests. As for the field trip, they were very illuminating about Japanese culture. I enjoyed the expertise brought on fashion and kimonos. Although sometimes translation was an issue, the content was interesting and eye-opening.
It goes without saying that Japanese classes were interesting and impactful. It is amazing how much we can learn in a span of 10 hours! Even as a multilingual person, learning a new language is always an exciting and rewarding challenge.
I also have to attribute it to the teacher/student ratio of Japanese class. This allowed me to practice and improve my speaking skills a lot. Every day after class, I would learn some new monologue by heart because I enjoyed it so much.
フィールドトリップでは、先生の着物の歴史の説明で、日本の着物への理解が深まり、日本人が伝統的な装いと現代社会を融合させていることに感心しました。 学術的な講義では、トピックはどれも興味深いものだった。私はほとんどのトピックについて初耳でしたが、各先生は2時間の講義の中でそれぞれのトピックに 興味を持たせてくれました。落合先生の講義を聞いて、 アジアのジェンダー問題というテーマをもっと理解したいと思い、次の学期はアジアのジェンダー問題の講義を受講することにしました。
