The International Center Newsletter

TAKING OFF

Vol. 22 Spring, 2014

Hello from All Corners of the World!

JangSu Jeon

I
Peruvian roommate (left)t has been more than six months
since I came to Korea. My experiences during this time made me change
my way of thinking and my attitude toward things happening around me.
Before coming to Korea, I just spenttime without thinking about anything too
seriously. In my freshman year, I only
studied and worked part time. In mysophomore year, I just went home after
my classes. I decided to change mymajor from business administration tohospitality business just before my junior year started. In my junior year, I met
new friends and prepared for my study
abroad, but to be honest, I was worried
about my future. I didn’t have any visionor goal for my future. I asked myself,“Should I live like this?” and “When I
start job hunting, do I have something I
can talk about?” I even didn’t know what
I wanted to do or even what I was interested in at that time.
Having these worries in my mind, I
started my study abroad life in September of 2013. In the first couple of weeks,
I could not communicate well enough tolive in Korea. I didn’t have a single
friend to have meals with in the firstmonth. I ate rice balls and cup noodles
alone everyday. However, as the time
passed, I found a kind of new me,
someone who could communicate withothers without hesitation and became
friendly to people around me. It changed

my life here completely. Right now, almost everyone at the Korean Language
Institute at Dankook University knows
me and thinks I am very talkative,
cheerful and outgoing. Even those whodon’t know my name greet me atschool. I was not like that at all when I
was in Japan, so coming to Korea led tomy true self coming out. I never expected living overseas to change me
this much. I truly enjoy my life here now.
I also feel that my Korean language
skills have dramatically improved. I cancommunicate with Koreans easily now. Ialways try to talk with university friends,(Up) With friends at the Korean Language
Institute (left)(Bottom) International student soccer
team (front right)

Vol. 22

professors, and even people working
near the university. Because of this, I
learned how Koreans normally speak,
and at the same time, I was able tobroaden my view toward my future
and various things in my life by talking
to many people.

Page 2

I feel that I have grown so muchas a person, so I am really grateful tohave come to Korea. All of my worries
faded away, and I started making
plans for my future. It is great to live
together with foreigners. You can gain

confidence in yourself. I will fully enjoy
the remaining two months in Korea
and study as much as possible untilthe end.

The next person is Ms. Risa Tanimoto who worked at the OGU International Center as an intern until February of
2013. Ms. Tanimoto graduated from Kwansei Gakuin University. Making use of her excellent language skills andstudy abroad experience, she supported international students and OGU students in different aspects for about ayear. During her internship, she applied to be an overseas dispatched representative and was selected as one ofthem among many applicants. She is now working at the Japanese Embassy in the Republic of Palau. We can learn
how important it is to challenge anything in a proactive manner.

Risa Tanimoto

With colleagues at the Embassy(Second right)B

efore I entered university, I had
already decided to study
abroad. As I wished, I studied
at Southern Methodist University inTexas, U.S.A. for a year from the Fallof my sophomore year. There werehardly any Japanese students at theuniversity, so I became friends withstudents from many different countries and really enjoyed my overseas
life. I still remember I sometimes
stayed in the library until the morningand almost gave up on study because
it was so hard to keep up with myclasses. When I look back on thosedays, they still come back to me as
good memories. After I studiedabroad, I became very active and outgoing. I participated in various shortterm study programs and international
events, both within and outside school
after I came back to Japan. Becauseof my study abroad experiences, I cansay that I have no regret in my university life. I truly feel grateful I had achance to study abroad.

When my fourth year started, I still
had not decided what to do aftergraduation. I luckily had a chance tobe an intern at the OGU International Center. I supported international
students from all over the world aswell as Japanese students who areinterested in studying abroad, assisted a professor in a seminar class,and various other duties. OGU welcomes international students frommany different countries and offers
many different study abroad programs for OGU students. In addition
to that, there are many places on
campus where students can interact
with international students like the IChat Lounge. I hope OGU students
will make the most of these opportunities.
Through my internship experience,
I learned basic knowledge for living
as a member of society and gave
many presentations in front of students and staff. I gained confidence
in myself. Furthermore, this experience made me decide strongly topursue work related to international
exchange and education overseas.
An internship is a good chance foryou to find what you want to do or
explore what you are interested in,so I hope you will try this as wellbefore working full time.
I am currently working at the Japanese Embassy in Palau, one of thePacific nations. Palau was recently
featured on TV in Japan, so you

might know this, but Palau is famous
for its beautiful blue ocean and diving.
I often enjoy the beautiful nature andrelaxing environment in Palau; however, my life in a country with a population of about 20,000 is sometimes
inconvenient and this makes me
homesick. My job at the embassy is totake care of visitors (arranging airport
pickup and transportation and making
hotel reservations), to interpret inmeetings, to publicize Japan and Japanese culture (holding events related
to Japan, recruiting and screening
government-sponsored students, andupdating website). It is sometimes
hard to adjust myself with local culture
and customs, and to communicate
with people in English. It is great that I
can use what I have learned at university and at OGU.
I found the job at the embassy acci-(Left) Diving in the Palauansea (left)(Right) The World Heritage
Site, Jellyfish Lake, which isfamous for jellyfish

Vol. 22Page 3

dentally when I was working as anintern at OGU. I always think that alife is made up of accumulated challenges and experiences. Because I
studied in the U.S., I could work atOGU. Because of my work experience at OGU, I was hired as a dispatched representative at the embassy. After my contract ended at theembassy, I am thinking to apply tograduate school. I have many morethings I want to do, so I will continuously challenge whatever lies in frontof me.
At last, here are my words of wisdom to all OGU students. You probably have a lot of time being a student,
so please try many things, overcome
hardships, and grow as a human being. I sincerely hope you will havefulfilling years and live your life to thefullest at university.

Beautiful sunset in Palau

Home Visit Program
In the home visit program, international students living in an apartment are able to visit Japanese families on theweekend. Many of the international students that participated in the Exchange Program in 2013-2014 lived in anapartment. Therefore, the home visit program was offered to them with families both within OGU and outside OGU
participating. Host families usually host students for a longer period, but home visit families usually meet them onceor twice a month. Therefore, this is a program that interested families can join easily. Here is a message from one of
the home visit families, Mrs. Yasuko Okayama.

Home Visit Family: Yasuko Okayama

About a half year ago, a profile ofa Finnish female student wassent to us right after we had decided to become a home visit family.
Her name was Mia Kolkkinen. I havemet many people from different countries before, but I had not yet met anyone from Finland. My image of Finnish
people was of someone with snow whiteskin and blond hair, and tall. As I imagined, Mia has white skin and straightlong blond hair, but she was only as tallas me – and I’m short as a Japanese. It
was a bit surprising to me that she wasrather short and frail.
After her first visit to our house, we
usually met once or twice a month andwent to many places in Kyoto. She
seemed to be well-mannered and studied hard at university. We sometimes
invited our friends to join us. They often
asked her the same questions, about
Nokia, Moomin, white night, and so on,
but she was kind enough to answer
them sincerely without showing any
displeasure.
She is not someone who shows emotions, but when my husband would greet
her in Finnish using a translation software on his cell phone, she always gave
a cute smile. We are used to living withthree boys, so I am sure my husband
was so happy that his dream of having adaughter came true.
One of our friends also hosted a
Korean female student at OGU as ahome visit family, so we had a joint
party at our house. We had so muchfun together, so I think it may be agood idea to be a home visit familywith your friends.
As you know the Winter Olympics
was held in February this year. When I
watched TV, I cheered not only for theJapanese athletes, but also for theFinnish athletes. Finland has unconsciously become someplace familiar
to me. This tiny cross-cultural experience planted a seed for a new interestin my life and it has started to sprout
out. It has truly been a great experience.

At the Okayama family’s house (From left
Yasuko, her son, and Mia)

Osaka tour with the Okayama family(From left Yasuko’s husband, Jiro,Mia, and Yasuko)

I am really glad that I joined
the Home Visit Program. I wasable to get to know the Japanese culture better, and I met awonderful family. Also, because
I lived alone in an apartment, I
really didn’t know what thenormal life in Japan was. But
because I got to know the Okayama family, I was able to experience a little bit of that too. We
visited different places aroundKyoto and Osaka area together.
I really had a lot fun and I am
thankful for everything. It felt likeI had parents in Japan that I
would occasionally meet withand travel around. Just like I
would do in Finland if I livedalone. Thank you for everything
and let’s stay in contact!

Mia Kolkkinen(Haaga-Helia
University ofApplied Sciences, Finland)Page 4

Flavor in New York～Takako Kanazawa

W

hen I think of New York, Broadway musicals are the first things
that come to my mind. With the spectacular songs, energetic dances, and incredible performances, the various and glamorousstage productions have attracted even larger audiences in recent years. It is just like a dream world.
I would like to introduce another way to enjoy
Broadway musicals. There is a door called “StageDoor” on the side of the theater building. After theshow, the actors dressed in casual clothes comeout from the door, and give autographs and shakehands with fans waiting for them outside. If you tellthem, “Today’s performance was fantastic!” in English, you can suddenly feelcloser to the musical icons of Broadway! This a great opportunity that you
shouldn’t miss. (International Center Staff)

International Center
Osaka Gakuin University/Osaka Gakuin Junior College
2-36-1 Kishibe-Minami, Suita City, Osaka 654-8511, Japan
Tel: 81-6-6381-8434 Fax: 81-6-6381-8499
Email: inoffice@ogu.ac.jp