I took four classes during my first semester: Marketing, Global Finances and Economic Mathematics were taught exclusively in Japanese, while Global Trade was taught in English. My Marketing professor noticed that I had trouble getting used to the Japanese computer system and thus couldn’t keep up with the rest of the class, so he checked on my progress every day, constantly asking whether I had understood the class material. In the end, I did very well in this course.

There were only about a dozen students per class, and students held discussions on a daily basis, giving me a change to learn to express myself and learn from my classmates; such goal-oriented practice was invaluable in cultivating my communication skills.

Students’ learning depends entirely on individual motivation. The university’s study facilities were incredible, with a bright, spacious library open 24 hours a day, enabling students to fully enjoy the joy of studying. In fact, students not only can check out books at the library, but also peruse all kinds of audiovisual materials.

My English improved by leaps and bounds, and I made lots of European friends. I especially remember my Legal Theory class; my professor broke away from traditional educational methods, blending legal studies with theories in the field of neuroscience, exploring his subject through the union of science and law. This is so interesting!

As a fourth-year undergraduate physics major, I no longer felt academic pressure from my coursework, and thus spent most of my time abroad doing research in the lab. During the five months I spent in Germany, I spent a lot of time assisting in scientific research in the lab, finishing all the preparatory work for my undergraduate thesis.