First Semester – End

As this semester is coming to a close, I’m going to take my time to write about Waseda University.

Waseda is a beautiful place. The buildings are new, the campus is clean, and there are a ton of restaurants to eat at. The students that I have met are incredibly kind and friendly. They are always eager to learn about where I came from and I am always eager to learn about them. The school brings together people from all over the world. I’m always amazed when I meet someone from a new country. This semester, I’ve met people from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Britain, Morocco, Brazil, China, South Korea, Singapore, and more.

I’m incredibly thankful that I was able to go study abroad because it gave me opportunities to learn a little more about each country by talking to my classmates throughout the semester. For instance, I didn’t know that Finland was involved in World War II. My friend from Finland had to tell me that. She told me that it wasn’t something her country liked talking about or was proud of since they sided with Germany.

Aside from the social aspects of Waseda, the school itself is a very good school. The moment I say I attend Waseda University in Japan, people are in awe. I learned that in Japan, Waseda is seen as a school similar to a school in the Ivy League in America. Some say its equivalent to Stanford, or even Harvard. The school is incredibly difficult for Japanese students to get in, thus people are always mind-blown when I tell them I’m an international student there. Furthermore, the education that I have received there thus far is great. Unlike America, there is very little homework. The process of learning is pretty laid back. Most of the assignments that are graded at participation (attendance), the midterm, and final. Even though there is not a lot of homework and assignments, I have learned a lot. My Japanese (which started from almost zero) has improved greatly. I have learned more Japanese at Waseda in one semester than I did in the three years that I took Japanese in high school.

What about the bad? There are little to no complaints about Waseda. The school is almost perfect. The three things I wish for most would probably be for the library to be bigger and to be open 24/7 (like most do on American school campuses), so that it could accommodate more students, and have more eating areas (benches + tables). Apart from these things, there are not many negative things I can say about the school.

I look forward to my last upcoming semester at Waseda after spring break. Even though there’s still a few months left for my study abroad trip, I’m already afraid of the upcoming end. I hope these next few months will go by slowly because the last thing I want to do right now is leave!

Here are some pictures I took on campus: