OPU Students 海外留学レポート
Study Abroad Report from the OPU students

プロフィール（Profile）
氏名（Name）宇田川直子（Utagawa Naoko）
所属（School）看護学研究科母性看護学 CNS コース
学年（Grade）博士前期課程 1 年
留学先（Name of overseas institution）
タイ、マヒドン大学（Mahidol University in Thailand）
留学期間 (study abroad period)
2017 年 9 月 6 日から 9 月 20 日（約 2 週間）
記入日（Date）2017 年 10 月 5 日

留学レポート Study Abroad Report
I had only sometimes to trip overseas and didn't go to study abroad so far. New nursing andmedical knowledge would always be available from the US or European countries, but I nevertried to read English papers. And foreign patients who can't speak Japanese sometimes come tothe hospital where I worked. Actually I knew the necessity of English but I had not studied
English enough and continued to avoid communication with foreigners.
The reason why I participated in this exchange program in Mahidol University was thepresentation from the people who went to there last year. One of the people said "I couldn'tspeak English." At the same time the person said "But I was really happy I could participate." Tome, these remarks were very impressive and interested. In addition, I thought that I wanted tolearn nursing and medical care abroad. So I decided to join this program.

In exchange programs, I learned about nursing education at Mahidol University and visitedactual nursing practice facilities and libraries. At that university has a wide and new practicaltraining facility that enable nursing students to do simulation training using medical equipment
and I thought that it was a great environment for the students.

I also participated in a conference held on Bangkok for three days.

And I had chances to visit the hospital and go to Ministry of Public Health.

The nursing department of Mahidol University has an international course which accept
students from other countries, lectures effective them in English even in for 1st year students ofthe graduate school. The contents of the lectures were similar to Japanese, but I thought that it
would be meaningful to learn without translating those literature. And In my opinion, studying in
English is useful for learning for international perspective.
In addition, it was the first time for me to present on my research interest and exchange
opinions with Thai graduate students in English. It was difficult to presentation in English, but it
was a valuable opportunity for me because I could notice the importance of discussion withothers in different cultures and social backgrounds.

(with my friends in Bangkok)

Comparing Japan and Thailand, social backgrounds and regional characteristics are different
but there are some common points in nursing and medical problems. I hope that the students
could make friends regardless of the country and discuss both good and bad points. Two weeks
was a very short period, but it was an important period for me to interact with Thai students andbecome friends. I would like to keep in touch with my friends who I met in Thailand. My friends
told me, “Don’t care because I was not good at English at first, too”. And now, I need to study in
English hard to speak more with my friends. I also think that it's meaningful to communicate theexperience of the exchange program in my English.
So I would like to strongly recommend to study abroad for people who wonder to that.