The International Center Newsletter

TAKING OFF

Vol. 14 Fall, 2011

The 50th Kishibe Festival –Kanade (Playing a tune)＜Team Names andSold Items >Genki: Tteokbokki and Hotteok
Inter-Food: Finish soup andGerman sausages
Yakitate! Europe & America:
French toasts and pancakes
Peace: CrepesDuring the 50th Kishibe Festival
held from October 21 to 23, international students set up four
different booths on the “Kokusai Dori(International Street)”. It had been only
two months since they came to Japan,
but they spent about a month to prepare
for this festival. Their great effort paidoff, as they received the best award in
the booth category. This issue featurescomments of two team leaders.
They have donated their proceeds tothose who still suffer from the aftermathof the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Alexander T. Uder (Trier
University)(
During the preparation period, we had tothink about a concept first, and then decide
what and how many to sell, what we needed,
how much of the ingredients we need topurchase, and so on. We had several meetings to find an answer to all of these questions, but it was sometimes difficult for everyone to be in the meeting because we havedifferent class schedules. Thanks to everyone, they had been so flexible and cooperative to get ready before the festival started.
During the Kishibe Festival, we had a lot ofdifferent tasks: decorating and preparing ourbooth, cleaning, buying, cooking, selling,calling customers to our booth, and many
more. All volunteer students were very flexible and did not only do what they were assigned, but they did what was needed. The

ISST (International Student Support Team)
members and international students got
along very well and cooperated to make thisfestival successful.
I would like to say that it is worth participating in the Kishibe Festival. Firstly, we could
do something good for others by collecting
money for the charity. Secondly, we learned
many different things: planning, organizing,decorating, cooking, promoting, and so on.
We also could become close friends withpeople you just knew before. I am sure this
precious experience will be useful in our lives
later on.
All in all, I would recommend all international students who will come to OGU in the
future to participate in the Kishibe Festival! It
is so much fun!

Martin Bureš(Metropolitan University Prague)Ever since our arrival in Osaka until today,
every International student has experienced
Japanese culture, but probably nothing iscloser to our experience of taking part in the
Kishibe Festival. Although I am not the best
writer in the first place, I know one thing for
certain, our experience cannot be described- the atmosphere that was created by thecollective effort of the OGU students, the
ISST members, the International Center
staff, the I-Chat Lounge staff and us, theinternational students from all corners of theworld - in several sentences. We are glad

Vol. 14

Page 2that we had a great opportunity to contribute to such an amazing event and to makeit a great success. This Kishibe Festival
will turn into a beautiful and unforgettable
memory we will hold in our heart when we
all go back to our home countries.
After being welcomed by the marvelous
initial show of OGU´s beautiful cheerleaders, the festival started. During the festival,
many people visited our booths from themorning to the afternoon, and there werealso at least two dozen booths and manydifferent kinds of food were sold there.
Therefore, I am sure everyone eventuallyfound something that would make his/herstomach growl or was simply curious
about.
Running a small business with the ISST
members was enjoyable and somehow
educational. How many people would say
they have an experience of working withso many people side by side to make one
thing happen? I assure you there are notso many. Every member of four booths

worked so hard that no single person juststood there and did nothing. In addition tothis, we had many chances to talk withlocal people as well as other students.
Although very few of us can speak Japanese fluently, all of us tried hard to communicate with them in limited Japanese.
At last, our hard work was rewarded by
the OGU´s best award on the final day of
the festival. All international and OGU
students at the closing ceremony shared
our joy by big applause. However, I mustsay that without the support from the OGU
personnel and everyone else, we would
never have received this award. This isjust a small part of the Kishibe Festival. If
you want to hear more, please do not hesitate to talk to us, the international students.
* Comments of other two team leaders
are featured in our blog, Taking Off.
Please check it out as well. Thank you.

ttp://inoffice.blog102.fc2.com/

Donate full proceeds to earthquake victims!
¥207,506

Message from international students:

Don’t give up, Tohoku

Helping hands are continuously left
to victims of the Great East Japan
Earthquake in Japan, but it is inevitable that it must be done on a longterm basis. OGU has tried to raise money

for the victims within the campus, and at
the same time, many of our overseas partners have done the same. Some partner
universities also gave us a donation.
Showing our thanks to all of them, we
asked international students to help us in
raising money for Tohoku. They graciously
agreed with our request and decided to
donate all sales earnings at the Kishibe
Festival. They with ISST members tried
hard to sell as many meals as possible toraise money for three days and earned
over 200,000 yen total. We were able todonate 207,506 yen to the Japan Red
Cross as a charity for Tohoku.
We would like to take this opportunity tothank all of you who helped us at the Kishibe Festival. Thank you very much!

(Top ) Kokusai Dori(International
Street)(Right) Leaders(Jenni and Martin)
receiving an award
at the closing ceremony

Fundraising for theThai flood victims!

T

he International Center, working
with the OGU Student Association,raised money for the Thai flood
victims during the Kishibe Festival. OGU
exchanges students with Bangkok University and Khon Kaen University in Thailand.
We conducted the Thai Work Camp(volunteer work) in May and the Thai Hospitality Tourism Study Trip in September ofthis year, and sent total 14 students toThailand this year. As shown here, wehave built a close relationship with them.
We would also like to comment that Bangkok University donated money for theearthquake and tsunami victims right after
the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. Due to the close relationship withThai partners, we did a fundraising forthree days during the Kishibe Festival.
Many people who stopped at our international students’ booths helped us, so wewill be able to donate total 79,752 yen to
the flood victims through our partner universities.

OGU Graduate Now: Yujin Yamamoto, ESCE (France) (Class of 2011)
We featured new options for study abroad returnees and post-graduate programs at OGU in the previous issue. This issue
features Yujin Yamamoto, who graduated from OGU in March of this year and started graduate school in August at ESCE, oneof our overseas partners in France. During his four years at OGU, he participated in a short-term English program at University of Hawaii and The University of Mississippi, studied at University of St. Thomas for two semesters as an exchange student, joined the prestigious Cambridge University Queens College Study Program, and also had a good relationship with international students at OGU. He is now studying business in France to make his dream of working overseas come true.

Bonjour! I am now studying marketingand management at ESCE in Paris,
France. Each class usually lasts forthree hours and consists of 20 to 40 students from all over the world. Each hasdifferent values and points of view, so

studying with them makes my view toward
the world wider. Most of my classes arequite student-oriented, including presenta-

Vol. 14

tions, group work, and case studies. However, some are just a regular lecture-type,so I sometimes feel bored with theseclasses. Here is one thing I was very impressed with after I came to France. European students speak English fluently nomatter which country they come from. It isof course because their native tongue isclose to English, but some students do nothave even a slight foreign accent. I also
realized once again the importance ofmastering English after I came here.
ESCE is not like an American university
campus. It does not have any on-campus
dormitories, so I have fewer chances tointeract with other students. However,going out for a cup of coffee or a drink with

Page 3my classmates helps me to create a good
relationship with them and to know Paris
more. Considering this, things are not bad.
I sometimes miss Japanese customer
service. I study management at school, so
even more so. But you cannot expect everything I had in Japan to happen here, so I
decided to be more realistic about that.
Friends around me often tell me that
French are difficult to get along with, but I
personally do not think so. They are always kind to me coming from Japan. I also
felt many French are also interested inJapan. Regardless of fields they are interested in, Manga or traditional Japaneseculture, I rather appreciate them for being
interested in Japan and Japanese people.

Visiting a German friend who used to study
at OGU (Yujin at right)

Message from Yujin: If you have any
questions or comments, please contact meanytime through the International Center!

Cambridge University Queens’ College Study Program
Luo Jing (Graduate School of Law)

I

participated in the Cambridge University Queens’ College Study Program in
England for two weeks in September ofthis year. Anyone who participates in thisprogram must take a special economics
class taught by Dr. Murray Milgate of Cam-(Top) At the Queens’ College Campus(Bottom) With Dr. Milgate and Mr. Shakleton in the classroom (Luo in the middle)

bridge University beforehand. I first decided to take this class because I want toacquire as much knowledge as possible
while studying in the graduate school andto improve my English skills.
Before going to the U.K., I have neverbeen to any other overseas countries besides Japan (She is originally frommainland China.). I learned in English in
China. Therefore, the U.K. was the first
English-speaking country I visited. Somepeople made a good comment on my English, but I was a little nervous to visit an
unknown country.
Two weeks passed so quickly after mystudy at Cambridge University started, but
I learned a lot for such a short period oftime. Our group studied and lived on campus like regular Cambridge students. Almost all things were done on campus, so
we were able to talk with our teachers
even while having a meal. During the classtime, we were able to exchange opinions
freely. What a teacher tells us is not always absolutely right. If we have a different opinion, we could speak it out. If there
is something we do not understand during

the class, we could ask our teachers anytime later. On some days, after long study
hours, we all went to a pub together andtalked about many different things while
having beer. I really enjoyed the permissive atmosphere.
Riding a boat on the River Cam is also apart of our class time. We took turns rowing the boat enjoying beautiful sceneries,
and listened to our teacher explaining thehistory of each college at Cambridge University. This is something I have neverexperienced before.
We also went on an extracurricular trip to
London and visited the Bank of EnglandMuseum. We understood what we learnedin the classroom better, such as inflation,
deflation, etc., through movies and games
there.
I adventurously traveled alone to Scotland, the Lake District, and many otherplaces before and after the program. I met
good people who became my friends andfelt confident in my English skills throughthese trips. I would like to challenge newthings from now on believing in my capability.

Kitayodo High School Visit by International Students: Nathalie BresanOn October 26, we as a group of 9
people from different countries
visited Kitayodo High School. We
took a train to Kami-Shinjo Station andheaded to the school on foot from there.
OGU was not the only university that par-ticipated in this event, so we met otherinternational students from different
schools in the library. Wearing slippers
inside the school was quite a new experience for us. We do not have anything likethat in Germany. After the head teacher

gave us a speech and thanked us forparticipating, we were divided into several groups. A group of four people including myself went to the third class ofthe second year. As we arrived in theclassroom, the teacher introduced us toVol. 14the entire class, which was already divided
into four. The group I joined was a really
nice group.
First,
I
taught themsome words
in my native
language,
German,andthen
we played agame and had a great time. After we spent
2 hours there, we moved to a big hall andwatched shows students prepared for us.

Page 4

A Taiko group performed first, and next a
student showed us a performance with aJapanese toy called Kendama, which wasreally good. A Judo performance followed
them. Four students taught us several
Judo techniques. And then a Beatles copy
band covered famous Beatles songs. They
were one of the best Beatles copy bands I
have ever seen. Finally, a much bigger
band with two female vocalists performedon the stage. All of them were amazingly
good and high quality. We all had a greattime to know how the high school students’ life goes in Japan.

9 international students who participatedin the event (Nathalie, third from right)

Is English difficult!? Tips to improve your TOEIC score from 345
to 740: Asuka Hara (3rd year student, Economics)W

hen you start something new,often times you face challenge.
It was also true in my case. I
started studying English hard after about
five months had passed since entering
OGU. I was not really interested in English
before that, so I was already far behindfrom other students then. My first TOEIC
score was 345. This score clearly showedthat I did not have sufficient grammaticalknowledge and listening ability. I even did
not know where to start. I encountered a
big challenge.
However, when I set a future goal, it
seemed everything had changed. My goal
was to find a job in which I can use English. Once you set a goal, what you needis to find a shortest way to reach the goal.
Many things related to English came up to
my mind; when to get 900 on TOEIC,
when to take TOEFL, when to go study
abroad, and so on. I started studying basic
English first, and then started going to the

I-Chat Lounge when I became a sophomore, where I tried to communicate withnative English speakers and international
students as often as possible. The more I
spoke English at the I-Chat Lounge, themore I became motivated to improve myEnglish communication skills because I
always felt frustrated or disappointed with
my own English. We are very lucky tohave such an on-campus facility at OGU.
In addition to this, whenever I had time, I
studied English at home and at school;
furthermore, I tried to read materials related to economics and international issues in English. I still continue doing all ofthese things.
My current TOEIC score is 740. It is notthat high yet, but my English ability has
improved comparing to the time when I did
not know what to do. It is not only the matter of English. I always believe when I startsomething, I would like to be someone
others look up to. This is very important. If

I make an utmost effort to become someone like that, it will be a great chance toovercome my inferiority complex and to beeven more motivated to go forward
I focus on only English right now, but
English is just another tool. Therefore, I
believe I need to accumulate more knowledge on many other things. I will continuously endeavor to make my dream cometrue.

Talking with a friend (Asuka, right)

My Life at Medicine Hat College in Canada: Akane Watanabe(3rd year student, Hospitality Business Administration)I

came to Medicine Hat College in Canada in September of 2011. I am taking
English classes here. My classmates inthe ESL program (Intensive English Program) are mainly from Asia, but some arefrom Mexico and Columbia. Therefore, I
have a chance to encounter different cultural aspects through them.
Mastering a language is one of my main
goals to come to Canada, so I try to improve my English. During lunchtime, we
set a rule that if we speak each other’snative tongue, we must pay 1 dollar. Thisis a fun way to speak English. Students
from the same country tend to gather andspeak their own language, so it is always achallenge for us to overcome the temptation. It has been almost two months since I
came here, but I still do not understand or
misunderstand what people tell me sometimes, or cannot communicate as well as I
want. This type of incident happens almost
everyday. I still cannot be confident in myEnglish skills.

I am also often surprised at encountering
different culture and customs. For example, not only a bus arrives late here, butalso it leaves a bus stop earlier thanscheduled, it dose not stop even when I
pressed a stop button, or it is suddenly
cancelled without any notice. It goes on
and on. If you live in Canada, you will definitely find the promptness of Japanesepublic transportation. Furthermore, I alsofeel how much Japanese have a sense ofvulnerability for many different things.

Vol. 14

Page 5

There is a custom to a big celebration
when there is a special holiday in Canada, so this is always interesting to me.
Recently, we celebrated Halloween. I
visited our neighbors’ houses with myhost brothers, who are 4, 7, and 10 years
old, saying “Trick or Treat!” It was somuch fun. I now look forward to the next
big holiday, Christmas.
I occasionally feel like crying when I
think that my English has not improved
much since I came here, but I try to tellmyself, “if I have time to cry over myshortcomings, I should use the time to
study English.” I still feel sad to face thereality, but I am not depressed because
there are more fun things than hard ones

in my life here. I would like to think thisstudy abroad experience is useful for me
when I look back these days someday,
so I will do my best to study hard andenjoy my life in Canada.

(Top) At the Halloween
costume party(Right) With ESL classmates(Akane, second from left)

News in December
A completion ceremony and farewell lunch was held on December 21, 2011. 23 international students will leave OGU after thissemester, but we will welcome another 10 students from Australia, China, France, Germany, Korea, and Taiwan in January!

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3Students who completed the program
Level 4

Level 5

大阪学院大学／大阪学院短期大学
国際センター〒564-8511 大阪府吹田市岸部南二丁目36番1号
TEL: 06-6381-8434 （代表）FAX: 06-6381-8499
Email: inoffice@ogu.ac.jp

国際センターBLOG““Taking Off”もご覧ください。

http://inoffice.blog102.fc2.com/