Kyudai News No27 page 19/28

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Kyudai News No27

First of all, could you tell us why you cameto Kyushu University and why you decidedto opt for a shared room?Yujie: I chose Kyushu University becauseit offers the full range of university courses,so I thought I’d be able to interact withundergraduates studying a variety ofsubjects. Once I got here, there seemed tobe quite a lot of international students and Iwas pleased to find that the support systemsfor international students were really good.I chose a shared room because I wanted tointeract with Japanese people as much aspossible. I decided to move in here becauseI thought I wouldn’t be able to experienceJapanese culture in such great depth unlessI actually lived with Japanese people.I hear that you studied Japanese for 18months in Kyoto before youcame to Kyushu University.Yujie: That’s right. It’s difficultto get into university unless youstudy Japanese first, so I went toa Japanese language school andthen got in here after taking theexamination for privatelyfunded international students.Kang Mingi, did you studyJapanese before entering theuniversity, too?Mingi: Yes I studied Japanesefor three years in South Korea.Then I took and passed theexamination to become aninternational student in Japanbefore taking the examinationfor privately fundedinternational students.Why did you decide to study in Japan? Youmust have had the option of studying in theU.S. or Europe?Mingi: When I was in elementary school, Ihad the opportunity to do a homestay withJapanese people, which triggered myinterest in Japanese culture. In addition, myelder brother had studied in Japan, so Inaturally wanted to study here too.Why did you choose a shared room, ratherthan living alone?Mingi: I thought I’d get lonely if I livedalone, plus I wanted to make lots ofJapanese friends. Dormitory Ⅲ has roomsshared by two Japanese students and twointernational students, so I decided to movein here, because I thought it would be agreat opportunity to get to know Japanesepeople.So why did you two Japanese studentsdecide to choose a shared room?Nonoka: I wanted to do something that Ithought might be tough or require a bit ofeffort during my time at university. Iwanted to have an experience unique to me,that nobody else has had. I also thought itwould be a great opportunity, because I’vealways been interested in other countriesand wanted to study abroad. Plus it wascheap.... (Laughs) (Nods of agreement allround)Kaoru: I decided to move in here because Ithought that university would be my onlyopportunity to experience living withpeople from other countries. And of course,it was cheap. (Laughs)What about you two from Japan? Have younoticed any differences in day-to-daycustoms from living with internationalstudents?Nonoka: I thought that we had differentways of disposing of garbage. However,what I realized from living with them is thatthese habits and customs stem fromeveryone’s own personality rather thanfrom their nationality. The other thing Inoticed was that they tend to preferstronger-tasting food than we do in Japan.The seasonings are quite powerful and theyalso use ingredients I’ve never even seenbefore.Kaoru: I'd heard that people in China andSouth Korea don't eat raw eggs, but theyreally were astonished to see me eating rawegg mixed with rice.How do you find Japanese cuisine, comingfrom overseas?Mingi: I couldn’t stand natto (fermentedsoybeans) at first, but now I love it.Yujie: I love natto too, but I don’t reallylike umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricots).We don’t have such sour foods in Chinaand South Korea. I was also surprised tofind that Japanese people eat octopus andsquid while it’s still alive.It looks like you cook a lot. Do you cookdishes from your own countries as well?Yujie: Yes, often. The other day, we allmade Chinese sweets together. It was arecipe I’d learned from my grandmother:you grate purple sweet potato and then fryit and eat it as a sweet.Mingi, Nonoka, Kaoru: Itwas really tasty.Is there anything that bothersyou about communal living?Nonoka: Before I moved inhere, I thought that sharing aroom would be more stressful,but actually, I haven’t felt asmuch stress as I’d expected to.One of the reasons for that isprobably the fact that the twointernational students speakJapanese fluently, don’t youthink?Nonoka: I think that’s a reallybig factor.Now I’d like to ask you aboutuniversity life. You’re allundergraduate students, so you must betaking the KIKAN Education program. KIKANEducation is an educational program uniqueto Kyushu University; how have you foundit?Mingi: I think the InterdisciplinaryCollaborative Learning of Social IssuesCourses are great. In the classes, we formgroups containing a mixture of arts andsciences students, working throughassignments together. I’m an arts studentand I thought it was great to be able todiscuss things with science students; I evenmade friends with some of them. TheKIKAN Education seminars were alsoreally good, because we could learn how tomake presentations and how to usePowerPoint.I chose a shared room because I wanted toexperience something different from everyone elseCampus Life18