A year in Japan Past Review
By A student (International Relations and Affairs., Tufts University) - abroad from 10/02/2011 to 07/26/2012 with
Kanazawa University: Kanazawa - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
I got to travel throughout Japan and East Asia, meet some great international friends as well as a few Japanese friends, and improve may Japanese a fair amount so I would say it was definitely worthwhile.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Some information that should have been given to us we didn't get unless we sought it out. And the administration sent us a lot of long emails in Japanese that we couldn't possibly have read at our level. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The international dorm is quite nice. Having your own (albeit tiny) kitchen and bathroom is really a luxury. But in my opinion, it still would have been better to have done a homestay for the year, so my Japanese could have improved more. |
| * Food: |
All the food in Kanazawa--in the cafeteria, the nearby restaurants, and downton--is amazing. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I felt rather unintegrated in the Japanese student culture because I had almost no classes with Japanese students and the ones that were joint classes with Japanese students had only a few Japanese students in them. Joining clubs at the school was also difficult. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Kanzawa is extremely safe. Bikes are left everywhere and never stolen. If you ever lose a wallet, it will almost certainly be returned to you. You feel safe walking at any time of day or night. |
| 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) |
Things are very expensive in Japan, but the Tufts stipend makes it more than easy to get by. |
| * Was housing included in your program cost? | Yes |
| * Was food included in your program cost? | Yes |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 0 |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Japanese D |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | That trying to join a club wouldn't be worth it. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Contemporary Japanese Literature in Translation |
| Course Department: | |
| Instructor: | Oyabu Kana |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | The teacher was unprepared and scatter-brained all the time. She basically made us run the class ourselves, didn't tell us specifically what she wanted for papers and then graded harshly. So much time was wasted; the teacher was the most inefficient class-runner I've ever met. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
