Tokyo: A City of Cities Past Review
By Kyle G (Computer Science / Japanese Language, The University of Texas at Austin) for
IES Abroad: Tokyo - Tokyo Summer
I enjoyed my time there thoroughly and plan to return sometime. Until then I had never been abroad and am glad to have the experience.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Overall, the workload was pretty light averaging about 1 hour of work to do each day outside of class. Presentations took a bit of preparation but the content was generally pretty simple. I enjoyed the daily free conversation in class about different topics as well as attempting to explain ideas/stories to our professor. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Very available and willing to help. If you wanted to practice your Japanese with them they were more than happy to speak with you. Overall, they were a lot of fun and I was happy to see their enthusiasm while working. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The dorm room was extremely small, but I had my own working air conditioner which was amazing because it was a very hot summer in Tokyo. Although the dorm was filled with the other Americans and we had a ton of fun, I would have liked to have some local students to speak/hang out with. I had an elderly couple as a host family. Their home was a beautiful traditional style one where me and the other American student slept on futons. I felt like I was at home, and shared every breakfast and dinner with the couple. They also took us to play golf, as well as to see the father's boy scout troop. |
| * Food: |
Delicious, try all you can. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The arranged Kamakura and Yamanashi trips were both a lot of fun. Kamakura moreso because we were guided by the local college students. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Very safe, no problems dealing with either health or safety. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Use the dry room as opposed to the dryer. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Fourth Semester Japanese (Yookoso 2 Part 2) |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
We met some local college students with whom I went everywhere, all the while improving my conversation abilities. Because the class was not on the Meikai University campus as I expected but in the same complex as the dorm, I spent more time with my American friends during the weekdays. The other American students spoke English most all of the time. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Don't expect to become fluent, just have a lot of fun. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Japanese In Context 300 |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Yuki Ozeki |
| Instruction Language: | Japanese |
| Comments: | I had taken two years of Japanese prior to this, so the class wasn't all too challenging. For some students, the amount of Kanji/vocabulary quizes we had was a bit high. We took a field trip to a disaster prevention center in nearby Ikebukuro as well as a high school another one to a high school. Both field trips were fun and provided good chances to speak to locals. The professor was well prepared, infinitely encouraging, and quite funny. With a class size of 10, I was able to participate/practice more than normally allowed here at my home university. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
