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。
ジェンダー、持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）、各国の市場特性など、さまざまなトピックについて話し合っていた時間のおかげで、 文化の多様性が非常に大きいことが気づきました。 それ以来、考えは広がり、自信を持って自分の国の考えや文化を表現できるようになりました。
The field trip and cultural experiences were also very intriguing as it helped us to explore Japanese culture more virtually. In the field trip, observing the technology advancement of Sake production from traditional methods to machinery based and to whole other innovations of cosmetics was remarkable to see.
日本語のクラスでは京都に関する文章、俳句、短歌などを勉強した。 文学作品を読むことで、母国で学んだことと全く違う日本の魅力を強く感じ、 また自分が勉強すべき方向を見つけた。今後もたくさんの文学作品を味わい、 日本の美と文化を楽しみたいと思う。
One of my favorite aspects of the class was our Breakout Rooms, in which we could ask questions to actual Kyoto University students. Here, I was able to converse and practice my learned phrases while getting to know my peers in Japan better. I must admit, I might have asked some non-sensical and basic questions, but the Supporters were incredibly capable of and patient in answering them.
We had consensus on gender equality, transition point of the world marked by COVID-19, the way to ease cultural difference——kindness and understanding, etc. What made our discussion more interesting was the diversity of the stories we told that based on our different background to support our points. It is true that diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, while in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development.
私の大学では、ネイティブ話者から直接日本語を学び、練習する機会がありません。 このプログラムに参加できて本当に幸運であり、感謝しています。 このプログラムでは、より高いレベルで日本語を学ぶことができますが、 日本語しか使わないのでちょっと大変です。 先生の教えをすべて理解するのは大変でしたが、日本語力を伸ばすのにとても役立ちました。
I think Kyoto University truly put much effort in planning and organizing the academic and student activities. They managed to keep a well-balanced ratio of lectures and other meetings, even putting up two different shifts, so that students from every time zone can join. Even though we could not come to Kyoto in person, I felt welcomed and sometimes almost forgot I am not sitting in a Japanese classroom but in my Viennese flat.
I particularly enjoyed the cultural experience. I think the origami activity is very meaningful. As crane origami is a symbol of blessing, good hope, for sure it is great to fold crane in this situation. To show our praying that the COVID-19 could end soon, so that we could get back to a normal and happy life. We folded the crane together in the break out room, and finally shared how many cranes did we fold. A communication and interaction as such is really warm.
In the program, I could learn something new and have enough time to digest and process, but I also time to explore Kyoto and had fun with classmates. During the lecture, I got the chance to learn topics in various fields. Those lectures truly broadened my horizon and made me aware of the important issues in Japan and worldwide.
プログラムへの参加を通じて学んだことは日本の文化と日本についての面白いことです。 例えば、日本語授業で日本の小学生の自由研究についてよくわかりました。 それ以外に、徳島県のゼロウェィストを目指している町についてのことを学びました。 たくさんの新しい単語と言葉と知識を学びました。色々な国と文化交換をしていて、異文化コミュニケーション能力を高めたと思います。 I could learn about Japan and Japanese culture through this program. For example, in Japanese class, we learnt summer research assignments for Japanese elementary school students. Besides, we learnt about the town which aims zero waste in Tokushima Prefecture. I learnt many phrases and knowledge. Thanks to the program which allowed me to exchange cultures with others, I improved the intercultural communication ability more.
