KANADA Seiken | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Experiences unique to your host country/university

Thanks to my experience in Australia, I was able to live in a country rich with nature. I will never forget the scenery I saw during my road trip from Melbourne to Sydney with my friends. I don’t think there are many countries like Australia that are urban, but still feel full of nature.
In addition, because of my exchange at La Trobe University, I was able to live with people of various nationalities, and I only spoke English. Like APU, La Trobe University welcomes many exchange students. However, at APU I can get by with either English or Japanese. So, I often found myself speaking Japanese and it was difficult to improve my English ability. On the other hand, there were few Japanese people at La Trobe University, so I had to speak English in order to get by. It was an invaluable experience for me to shift away from using Japanese and use English to communicate with people from various cultures.

Words of advice/encouragement for students who want to go on exchange in the future.

Only now, as a university student, will you have the ability to join the exchange program, and there are some things you can only experience on exchange as a university student. If you want to enrich your short time as a university student, I think there is nothing you can lose by going on exchange! By stepping out of the hometown/home country you’ve gotten used to, you’ll have more time to think about who you are, and you’ll learn a lot about yourself. Take the first step and embark on a journey to find yourself!