The International Center Newsletter

TAKING OFF

Vol. 17 Fall, 2012

The 51st Kishibe Festival: New Phase

It was a very festive and exciting time on campus during the Kishibe Festival which washeld from October 19 to 21. The international students who arrived in Japan in September jumped right in and got involved in the school’s annual event. It was a time of fun,food, and making new friends.
The International students gave it their all over the three days of the festival. Together
with the OGU students they operated four food stands. Every day of the festival they werebusy cooking and selling pancakes, gyoza, chijimi, popcorn, and s’mores, all of which werea big hit with OGU students and others who attended the festival.
And due to all their hard work, they were able to sell many tasty treats and have a successful event. With the money raised, they decided to donate 160,000 yen to the Red
Cross. The money will be used for humanitarian activities that the Red Cross implements.
We would sincerely like to thank all of you who helped their booths to be so successful. Itwas truly a great experience and a great event.

Top: Students at the booth
Bottom: Donation Awarding Ceremony
to Red Cross

Hello from All Corners of the World!
There are 33 OGU students currently studying in 10 countries and regions at 14 overseas universities. This is the largest number
ever at OGU, but considering the total student number is 6,000, it is still only a small part of the entire student body. This issue
introduces the varied lives of exchange students. We hope their reports will inspire and motivate other students who wish to study
abroad in the future.

Kazuki Hirokawa, Linnaeus University(3rd year, Business Administration Major)I

am currently studying Managementand Organization at Linnaeus University in Vaxjo, Sweden. I would liketo introduce the lecture style at this university.
First of all, I studied Management inEnglish at Osaka Gakuin University

Trip to Copenhagen with friends (Left)(OGU), so I expected that it would not
be so difficult to study it in Sweden. But
I was totally wrong. Once classes started, I didn’t understand what my lecturers and classmates were saying. I evendidn’t know what I didn’t understand.
Lecturers usually put key words on PowerPoint slides and verbally explain them.
German and French students in myclass always asked questions and expressed themselves clearly. I felt thateveryone except me was actively participating in class. In addition to that, I
needed to read more than 500 pages ina month and also had group work,presentations and discussion in class. I
didn’t have enough time to sleep! Oneday, I realized one thing. We were alltold to work in a group of 5 or 6 students

BBQ at the lakeshore with friends(Second from right)

and each group was assigned a chapter. “Each group reviews a different
chapter, so they must explain important
points to the rest of the class!” Bingo! I
almost gave up on my study here, but I
could survive in this difficult situation.
What I want to tell you here is that I really like the study style in Sweden inwhich students help each other. This istruly a student-driven classroom!
I am still struggling, but I am trying myVol. 17

best everyday hoping that I can achieve
something when I finish this studyabroad. I mentioned how difficult my life

Page 2here is, but I am truly enjoying “studyhard, play hard” in Sweden!

Akane Harada, Wenzao Ursline College of Languages(3rd year, Distribution Science Major)
Not all students who decide to study
abroad have a clear vision for their future. I was one of them. I left for Taiwan
in September thinking that I will makethis a chance to reflect on myself andmy future.
I am currently studying Chinese, marketing, and other subjects in Taiwan andliving in a dorm. I just got used to living
here, so I finally started looking back on
my life in the past couple of months. I
still think this is what I wanted to do! I
will start my research on local Taiwanese companies from now.

I learned a very important lesson
through this study abroad: It is to have apositive attitude and not to give in nomatter what happens. When I came
here, I did not even know easy Chinesewords. I always asked people aroundme, “What is it in Chinese?” I tried touse the words I learned later. Living in adorm was not easy at the beginning. I
thought of moving out from the dorm,
but I thought if I run away from thisproblem, I will do that again and again in
the rest of my life. So I decided to stayin the dorm. I am now glad I decided toWith a language partner (Right)

do so because I have already got used
to living there. Now, I actually enjoy it.
Studying abroad gives you a lot oftime to reflect on yourself. You also
have a constant battle with yourself
everyday, but when you overcome it, it
will make you a confident person. Do
you have time to reflect on yourself? I
hope OGU students will do their bestand move forward to the next step!

“Inspire Me!” has inspired OGU students!

Osaka Gakuin University’s campus was alive with the sound ofmusic and full of inspiration on
Nov. 29 thanks to an exciting and energetic performance from the Japanese
universal instrumental band Drakskip.
The mini concert, by the band who
have played their unique style of music
all throughout Japan and Europe, wassponsored by OGU and the International Center. It was the second musicalevent held as part of a series called“Inspire Me!” One of the main goals of
the “Inspire Me!” series is to bring different young performers to OGU to help
inspire OGU students to be interested in
the world and different things.
Watching the 4-member group perform to a standing room only crowd ofDrakskip performing in frond of manystudents

students in OGU’s building 2 was amazing. Students were tapping their feetand shaking their head side to side as
the group played some up tempo andslow wistful music. In between songs,
the band members kept up a lively banter with each other bringing smiles andlaughter to the face of students. Clearly
all were impressed.
The “Inspire Me!” series is the brainchild of OGU’s own Professor TheoSteckler. Mr. Steckler said he wants toshow students that young Japanese aredoing great things in Japan andthroughout the world. He hopes OGU
students are positively motivated to notgive up on their dreams and hopes. Mr.
Steckler was a great MC and his efforts
were clearly a huge success during thissecond event.
Drakskip has been performing forabout seven years. The members met
during their university days in Kyoto andhave worked hard to achieve theirdream. The band plays European instruments in a very entertaining way.

One of the members also trained himself to play an unusual looking Swedish
instrument called a “Nyckelharpa,” or
key harp. Many students were very interested in the instrument which they
had never seen before.
OGU students interviewed after themini-concert said they were very energized and impressed by the performance. During a reception for the band
students were able to talk to the band
members more. One student said hefound the music very interesting . “It wasawesome,’’ he said.

Osaka Gakuin University/Osaka Gakuin Junior CollegeInternational Center
Email: inoffice@ogu.ac.jp