Three students of University of Aizu (UoA) had three-weeks short-term Oversea Programs at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in USA.

Here are their reports of their classes and daily life in USA.

＜Participants＞

＜Study Report＞

１. Mr. ISHII Masahiro (a third-year student)

I went to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in America by using the short term study abroad program.

I had two reasons for applying this short term study abroad program. First, I want to improve my English skills like speaking, listening and writing by trying to communicate with many people there. The another reason is for developing my understanding of computer science by learning researches and technology in overseas university with some classes and opportunity to learn in the laboratory.

Duration this short term study abroad program, the worker gave me many activities like sightseeing, hiking in mountain and taking me to restaurant on weekends. At first week, the professor took me to Indianapolis for sightseeing. I visited to the biggest museum there where I learned about history in America. At second week, I went to hiking with some students. It was so cold day which made hiking harder but it was good experience for me. At last week, I went to bowling with some students and some professors. After that, they cooked dinner for me because of that day was the last day in this study abroad.

I had a lot of precious experiences like knowing culture, talking with many people and going some places to do some activities through this short term study abroad program. In these experiences, I felt that many students are actively very much when they are in classes. In classes, they are actively about asking professors to many questions which made me so surprised and felt the difference between Japan and America. And I had a lot of opportunities to talk with them during this short term study abroad program. I have known that many students work hard for their objectives by talking with them about their motivation or their thinking.

In this short term study abroad program, I had three classes. First is English class in which I had a lot of opportunity to speak my opinion and talk with many students. This made my English skills better. Second is chemical class in which I learned about the chemistry knowledge by some experiment. Before taking this class, I had concerned about my understanding of this class because of long time no studying chemical. However, due to many students and professor that help me with understanding, I enjoyed the class. The last one is computer science class in which I learned about how to make application with python that is one of computer language. I had a lot of assignments in this class and it was so hard for me to do. But I did these assignments by questioning the professor and students.

Through three weeks of this short term study abroad program, my motivation for the language skill and computer science has increased very much by a lot of precious experiences like talking some people about their perspective. Especially for English, I have known how much English skills required overseas. I want to use these experiences for development of my studying and my researching.

2.　Mr. MATSUMOTO Tatsumi (a third-year student)

I joined this program because I had a curiosity about foreign countries. Before leaving Japan, the United States felt very distant and unreal to me. However, now that I have finished studying abroad, the world feels more familiar and realistic to me.

In this course, I took the following three classes. They were "Python," "English," and "Japanese Culture and Japanese Cooking Practice. In particular, the "Python" course had incredibly challenging assignments every time, which were quite difficult to handle. We also had opportunities to introduce Japanese culture. We made slides and gave presentations about Japanese food culture. I was very nervous because there were quite a few more students there than I had expected, but I am proud to say that I was able to meet the audience's expectations, thanks to our practice with some Rose-Hulman students.

At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, I had many opportunities to interact with people. I had discomfort with socializing, but the students at Rose Hulman were very friendly and helped us when we were in trouble. I realized what is important to communicate with people in oversea. Of course, English proficiency is important, but it is not the only thing. It was also about having empathy and considering the other person's feelings. It may be obvious, but I believe that understanding the feelings of others and acting for them was the key to the success of this study abroad experience.

My current ability to communicate is such that I can only communicate one-on-one when the other person is speaking along with me. Therefore, when I wanted to join a conversation with a group of two or more native English speakers, I could not keep up with the speed of the conversation, which was very regrettable. From now on, I will look for opportunities to use English and continue studying so that I can communicate with more people.

3. Mr. HAYAFUJI Fumiaki (a first-year student)

1. Introduction

Thanks for watching this report. However, why are you visiting this website and reading my report? Maybe, you are interested in studying abroad too like me and a student who apply for this program. So, what do you want to do in this program? In my case, to improve my creativity and study how to "learn" by myself. This program costs about \300,000 in total. It isn't a cheap price for me, but I got value more than the cost. I want to tell you about my experienced.

2. Experience in America

Before coming to America, I have confidence in my English skill. Also, I thought I can do well with Americans. However, once I came to America, my confidence broke down. I realized that I am not able to live in a country where spoken English. In fact, I wasn't even able to order what I want to eat. All of the Americans I met were very kind and friendly to me. They didn't treat me as a stranger. However, Because of my English skill, I was being afraid of speaking with them.

However, the situation gradually changed. At Rose-Hulman, there are 2 Japanese students for mid-term study abroad: one is from Tohoku university and the other is from our University. They gave me advice: When you speak with Japanese students try not to speak Japanese. So, I tried not to speak Japanese and I practiced telling something in English.

I learned two things through practicing this. First, what I learned is I don't have to tell all that what I want to say. Even if I wasn't able to tell everything that I want to say, they were able to guess with the word and gestures. Second, what I learned is If I can't understand what they say, I can ask them to say again with one word "Sorry". I used this word frequently when I wasn't able to understand what they said. Thanks to realizing these, I got a little bit more confident to talk with Americans.

3. Interesting culture for me in America

There are two US cultures that I thought were interesting. First is US car rules. Especially, I was surprised by the rule when crossing the railroad and the rule when turning right at an intersection point. When we turn to cross the railroad by car, we have to stop before a railroad in Japan. Also, when we turn left by a car at an intersection point, if a traffic light is red, we have to stop. However, we don't have to stop in such cases in America. I've already got a driver's license in Japan, So That's a strange thing for me. The second is the tip system. There isn't a tip system in Japan. I thought this system is one of the ways that express gratitude.

4. Classes in Rose-Hulman

I think that class contents at Rose-Hulman are much more difficult than that at University of Aizu. We took 3 classes CSSE120, ESL, and Japanese cooking class.

In CSSE120, we learned syntax of Python and part of the important things in software engineering. I thought that the style of this class called flipped learning is very unique. We have to prepare before the next class. In the class, we learn the topic more deeply. I've never taken such a style class at University of Aizu. I thought this class content is more difficult than "Programing introduction" at University of Aizu.

In ESL, we were taught English. But the classes are focused on English speaking. So, we sometimes had to speak our opinion in front of the professor. I thought it is the most exciting lecture for me of the three classes.

Japanese cooking class is part of chemistry class. In this class, we researched some dishes. For example, we made curry and rice with some kind of secret ingredient: Worcestershire sauce, Butter, sugar, and no secret ingredient. The majority of Rose-Hulman students who are taking this class answered Butter one is the best, on the other hand, I thought the Worcestershire sauce one is the best.

5. What I learned from this program

I want to talk about what I learned from this program. there are 2 things. The first is "Don't be afraid to speak English" If you apply to this program, maybe the most difficult program for you will be "English" too like me. However, if you try to keep talking in English, you can get confidence in your English skill like me. The second is unless we experience something, we can't get anything. Actually, I can't guarantee that this program will be the best memory for you, but I recommend applying for this program. Because All of the experience in this program made me stronger. Next is your turn!