How does study abroad change the life of international student?

Interviewers: Akihito Nagashima, Hasan Ramadhan Fadel

Self-Introduction

Aki：First of all, I would like to do an introduction. Hi, My name is Nagashima Akihito. I’m a 2nd year of Humanities and Social Science student. Nice to meet you.
Hasan：Hi, My name is Fadel Hasan Ramadhan. I’m a 3rd year Japanese Literature student from Jenderal Soedirman University in Indonesia. Right now, I’m taking online courses in Ibaraki University. Nice to meet you.
Panda：Hello, I’m Panda. I’m from Thailand. Nice to meet you all.

Reasons of Choosing

Aki：When were you doing your student exchange program in Ibaraki University?
Panda：I was doing that program from April 2018 until February 2019. So, it was around 10 months.
Aki: Why did you choose Ibaraki University because 10 months was pretty long time I should say.
Panda：So, there were agreements between my university and other universities. Not only Ibaraki University but also with other universities. I chose Ibaraki University because Ibaraki had a cheap price of accommodations rather than other universities that have agreement with my university. Despite the fact that Ibaraki is near Tokyo, Ibaraki is quieter and calming. I went quite often to Tokyo because it only takes around 2 hours to go there. I also often went to Shibuya.

Differences between Ibaraki University and Panda’s university

Aki: Were there any differences between your university and Ibaraki university that you had realized?
Panda： First of all, how they teach was different. Teachers in Ibaraki University taught me only using Japanese when they teach Japanese language and there were a lot of activities in class. In addition, the credit system is different. But, because I was an exchange student, I don’t really understand anything about that.
Aki: Was the credit system totally different from your university?
Panda： I wasn’t interested in that because I went to Japan in order to get used to live in Japan and use Japanese language.
Aki>: I think living in Japan is already a good lesson to get used to the life here, either how it feels or interacts using Japanese language.
Panda： Yeah. Also, there was a lesson that I didn’t really like. It was a lesson that learning about foreign culture. That lesson was supposed to be taken by Japanese students. So if you want to take it, you have to be a person that has quite well of Japanese language ability. I took that class and my Japanese ability was some kind of no hope. So, you know the rest.

Feelings before coming to Japan, while staying in Japan, and after returning to Thailand”

Panda： Before I came to Japan, I couldn’t speak Japanese at all.
Aki: Is that true?
Panda： Yep.
Aki: But, I think you’re awesome.
Panda： Everyone can be like that if they got used to the situation. When I was coming to Japan, my friend was like, “Stop using formal language (敬語はやめて)” , but I only knew formal language at that time. For example, I was being asked, “You had lunch? (ご飯食べた？)” (in informal form of Japanese language). But, I didn’t understand what that means. It was other way around if I was asked, “Have you eaten something yet? (ご飯を食べましたか？)” (In formal form of Japanese language). I will know it right off the bat. I was also often on using wrong form of Japanese politeness.

Had you experienced any culture shocks?

Hasan： Panda, had you experienced any culture shocks?
Panda： Yeah, of course. Japanese people are honest, right? But, they don’t really like to say something directly, so that was a shock to me. But, everything was okay after everyone told me about it. For example, when my friend saw something cute, she said like “Doesn’t that cute?” Because my Japanese was pretty bad at that time, I thought she was confirming that it doesn’t cute or something like that. So, I answered, “Yeah, it doesn’t”. Other culture shock is the earthquake alarm. It always made me jumpscared.

After doing student exchange program, how do you make use of what you have learnt?

Hasan： Panda, after doing student exchange program, how do you make use of what you have learnt?
Panda： So, after I did that program, I came back to Thailand, spent 1 year studying in my university, graduated, and I did internship in Japan Foundation in Thailand. Despite that my major is Business, but after I did my internship, I’m working as Japanese language teacher in Highschool. It’s already 3 years being a Japanese Teacher.