Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology - Saori Nemoto, a third year student (during the program) / undergraduate

<This English report is written by the student>

I went to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) for 6 months as one of exchange student. There are two reason why I decided to go to RHIT. The first reason is related with my study thema which is about how to improve Japanese people's English pronunciation. I wanted to do experiment in America. Because I thought I need native speaker's opinion. The second reason is I wanted to learn foreign culture. RHIT is a great place to learn foreign culture, because there are many students who comes from various country such as China, Brazil, Swedish and so on.

I had been at RHIT two quarter which is fall and winter, and I took three courses in each quarter. In fall quarter, I took CSSE120, Japanese culture and college English. Each course had many homework everyday. For example, in college English course, I had to do interview with native American about halloween event. Also each course had group project end of quarter. In CSSE120 course, I wrote Python program with my partner to move robot for two weeks. I think the most different studying style is group work. It was hard for me to communicate each other. However, most rose students were nice to me. They helped me a lot. I also used learning center a lot. There were some students who could teach specific course, and they helped my homework. RHIT has buddy program for exchange students. They helps our study and life many times. My buddy was same major with me. So I studied with my buddy every week.

I had many good opportunity to learn foreign culture at RHIT. Because it was a beginning of school year, there are many traditional American culture event such as bonfire. And RHIT had so many events every weekend. They were great place to make friends. I joined freshman orientation at beginning of fall quarter. I could make many friends. I learned that making friends is really important to success college life. Without my friend's supports, I could not spent such awesome time. I got great chance to learn English harder which is part time job. As my part time job, I translate some interview audio into Japanese.

I also hanged out with many friends a lot. I joined the short exchange program when I was junior student. At that time, I could not talk with foreign people a lot. I tried to be aggressive in talking with many people in this time. There was no problem to make friends even I had not been good at speak English. All my friends let me practice my English.

Through this exchange program, I could enjoyed whole time at RHIT. I learned many things such as high programming skill, English language, foreign culture and importance of having friends. Everything was fresh and great for my life what happened at RHIT. Every good time and hard time are precious memories. I am sure that those experiences will makes me more confident and helps my future. Lastly, I am grateful to all the people who supported me in Japan and I have met at RHIT.