It has been about one and a half months since my first report and a lot has happened since then. In this report I decided to focus on the new experiences I made and add a few thing I could not talk about in my last report. For everyone interested in part I, where I talk about the actual student life more, please go read: "The 'quiet' side of Japan: Student Life at Fukushima University".
Part I: New Experiences
In the beginning of February I decided to go to Sapporo to visit the famous snow festival. A lot of the international students did the same, so we could spend a day there together. The festival was very impressive and fun. I had never seen ice or snow sculptures before in my life and the ones at the festival were very unique and quite large. We could also enjoy all sorts of snow activities like going down a slide build out of snow.
With the semester coming to an end, the time for me to move out of the dorm and thus leave the life I had lived for the last few months behind was also approaching. This time was a time of goodbyes, with last lessons, my last club training and the last time of meeting the friends I made here. I was sad and happy at the same time, because I knew this part of my life was over, but I was also looking forward to the plans I made for the coming holidays as well as seeing my friends and family in Germany again after such a long time.
The process of moving out turned out to be more complicated than I thought. First, I underestimated the effort of having to pack half a year's worth of things. Second, the information about the whole process wasn't conveyed in a way that I could grasp how everything will go on that day which lead to some unexpected events. In the end, luckily, everything worked out and some of the Japanese and international students that I got along with during my stay came to say goodbye to me at the front door.
From that day on I visited a lot of places in Japan that were further away, mostly in the area south of Osaka. Traveling the country I got a very different experience than living in Fukushima. Especially in the cities that are more used to having foreign tourists, I was automatically considered one of them, even though I managed to live in Japan for half a year handling most daily necessities in Japanese as well. Every city I visited was different and after living in the east, the west had it's unique points I was not used to. I was surprised how it became harder to understand the conversations of the citizens the further I moved away from Fukushima. Being in Osaka, I was sometimes wondering if people were even speaking Japanese to each other or a completely different language, that's how unique the Osaka dialect sounded to me.
During my visit of Hiroshima, I went to the peace museum as this was mentioned in one of the lectures. Having studied about the 2011 Earthquake and its consequences as well as general disaster management in Japan, changed how I experienced this museum, even though the two events itself are unrelated. It was very valuable to me, so I'm happy we got recommended to go there, as I usually skip on museums that talk about history.
While I'm not even out of Japan yet, one thought that grew stronger over the last few weeks is, that I definitely want to come visit Japan again. Even though this student exchange was a very unique experience that I could only do once in my life, during my time here I really got to understand and love Japan and it's culture even more. I realized this half year was way to short to experience everything Japan has to offer. There are still things I could not do and places I could not visit. Next time I come to Japan, I'll have to come back as a tourist, but having lived here for some time has changed how I view some of the things that might seem strange from a European perspective and these experiences will stay with me forever.
Part II: Festival at the University
In the beginning of November there was a festival at the University. This two day event was very fun and had a completely different vibe to everything I experienced in school in Germany. Every club or circle could and did participate by doing food, shows or other fun activities. The students put a lot of effort into their performances as well as decorations of the classrooms and planning and execution of the activates. I spend the whole weekend at the University just visiting the different rooms and checking out dance, music and other artistic performances. The rate of students willingly participating in the event seemed a lot higher than back in my school, what made it a lot more fun. It would have been nice to be part of any of the clubs, so for anyone who get's the chance to join a club in summer term I would highly recommend to try that.
福島大学への留学案内・年間スケジュール
