Mr. Takenobu Kazuma, a first year student of the Master's Program of the Graduate School of Computer Science and Engineering at UoA has started his three-month research from November 24, 2010 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, USA on UoA's Mid-term Overseas Study Programs for Academic Year 2010.
Here is his report on his research and daily life in USA.
A regular report from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (January, 2011)
I am studying at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for 3 months, from the end of November to the beginning of March. This report is written in the middle of January 2011, as a field report.
In University of Aizu, the classes are held 90 minutes 1~3 times a week. On the other hand, in Rose-Hulman, the classes are held 50 minutes 4~6 times a week. Therefore, the contents of the classes are very precise, and students can concentrate and get knowledge for short span. When students need further explanation, students can ask a question during the class, and of course out of the class. That's why I haven't had difficulties in my classes so far.
I'm taking 3 classes about Image Processing at Rose-Hulman. I'll transfer credits of one of the classes I take. One of the classes I take starts at first period on weekdays, 8:10 am. At the beginning of the quarter, I woke up at early morning but recently I'm busy in the morning because I get lots of homework and stay up late at night.
In my free time, I learned about the traditions and culture of Christian religion. In church, I leaned about Bible, Christian message, and sang some hymn songs. Also, I stayed few days at dorm of Purdue University at West Lafayette with my friend. He showed me around the college, and I taught him Japanese dishes there.
Additionally, I interacted with Rose-Hulman students to play some board games and joined anime club and watched English-subtitled Japanese anime. I visited a Japanese language class in this college. I was surprised at students' fluent Japanese who study Japanese only for a year.
One and a half months have passed since I came to USA, I don't have any English troubles to understand the class and conversations with professors because I studied English very much in English classes and classes taught in English at U-Aizu. But I feel hard to keep up with a conversation with students because they speak a lot of slang and spoken English. The rest of my stay in USA became just a half of whole schedule. I'd like to get more experiences positively.