Student：Cle'ment HEIRWEGH
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : Oct 2013 - Mar 2014

My name is Clément Heirwegh, I am currently preparing a Master degree in renewable energies at ESIEE Paris.  I came to Kagawa University as an exchange student for one semester where I joined the laboratory of the Professor Qi.

In this laboratory, we study a new generation of solar cells, which is cheaper than the current one using silicium.
During this semester abroad, I didn’t find only a new generation of solar cells but also very good friends. The first day when I arrived in Takamatsu, two students from the laboratory came to pick me up at the train station, they helped me for all the facilities, they showed me the school, drove me to the dormitory and the first weekend we had a welcome party with all the laboratory members.  It was the best to way to start this new experience and to forget all my apprehensions. Then we usually had dinner together, we also travelled and it made me feel to have more joined a family than a school.

Within this laboratory I was able to participate to a presentation between French researchers in Japan held in Tokyo. For this presentation, the Professor Qi was really helpful. He provided me many documents and answered all my questions. I also attended a scientific meeting in Okayama University between many students from others Japanese universities.
It was a pleasure for me to come here, to discover a new technology, a new way of working and super nice people and staff.

Welcome party with all the laboratory

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Before coming here I was really wondering about this city, all my Japanese friends couldn’t tell me anything about Takamatsu and Kagawa, except it’s the Udon prefecture (うどん県). I love travelling and to discover many new things so I was a little worried that this place is only famous for noodles. But by staying 6 months here, I discovered many beautiful and interesting things, like temples, the Ritsurin garden which is one of the three most beautiful Japanese gardens, or all the islands in front of Takamatsu which are all different and good to visit.

Takamatsu is also well located to go other places. For example, there is a very cheap ferry to go to Kobe or many buses going to big cities. So I spent most of my weekends and holidays travelling around Japan and when I stayed in Takamatsu, I usually joined events organized by the University like meeting elementary and high school students, going to a Japanese family which was an amazing experience or making mochi (rice cake) for new year.

About the daily life in Takamatsu, I definitely discovered a different lifestyle, especially about transportation. Many people use bicycle here and as most of students, I did too. Bicycle is probably the most useful thing when you live in Takamatsu.

I ate cheap and delicious udon at least few times a week and even there is not so many things to do at night here, I got used to it. Every time I came back from trips, it felt like home here. It’s quite a big city but also quiet and peaceful with many rice fields behind big streets. The other thing I liked here is that I saw the same faces daylily when I was walking on the streets. It gives me a familiar feeling which is appreciable when you live in a foreign country.

View of Takamatsu from Yashima mountain which is just behind the dormitory

 

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Student：Seung Cheol HAN
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : Apr 2013 - Mar 2014

Hello. My name is Seung Cheol Han from Korea. I have been studying electronics information in faculty of engineering of Kagawa University for the last 7 months. In Korea, my major is electricity engineering. I also study Korean and English. I am happy that I was given a chance to study my major in Kagawa University for one year.

Even though I did learn Japanese for 2 years in elementary school, I still felt some fear when I first arrived in Kagawa. I was not very confident to use my Japanese at that time. Luckily, Korean and Japanese use same Chinese characters. I recognize almost all the meanings of words in Japanese textbooks while I cannot write my report in Japanese very fast.

One teacher has ever told me, “way to go and do your best”. I always remember this phrase whenever I face difficulties in Japan. Thanks to teachers and Japanese friends here, I have earned all the credits I needed so far. I now enjoy attending classes and gaining new knowledge. If I ever meet any other international students who are having a hard time in Japan because of their Japanese, I will be happy to share my story to encourage them.

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In Takamatsu, you will see familiar scenery like ones you find in your hometown.
I use my bicycle to travel between the international student dormitory and the engineering campus. It is a long ride of 40mins one way. Because of this daily exercise, I have become much healthier after coming to Takamatsu.
While I sometimes feel unsafe being on road with my bike, I often enjoy taking pictures of beautiful views of bridge, birds, the sky and so on. They are familiar sights for me and give me a sense of comfort during my long bicycle ride. 
Riding bicycle in Takamatsu is highly recommended. You can cycle to your school and work place. You can also go for a trip with your bicycle. But please remember to watch out for traffic when you are cycling to avoid unexpected accident.

Taken by Mr. Han on his way to the campus in April 2013

 

 

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Student：Guangyi ZHU
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : Oct 2011 - Mar 2014

Hello,
My name is Guangyi Zhu, I am from China and study at Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University for my master degree. Three years ago I came to Japan and stayed in Tokyo to study Japanese for one year. After I completed my course, I contacted my professor and came to Kagawa. First time when I arrived in Takamatsu, honestly, I was a little disappointed. Because compared to Tokyo, this city is too quiet and does not have a lot of places for entertainment. However, with time pass by, somehow I started liking this city with its unique features like delicious Udon noodles, the beautiful Seto Inland Sea and many attractive islands. Whenever I ride my sports bicycle near the sea, it feels so good. I think this is the feeling you can’t get by living in a big city.

About my campus life,
The laboratory where I am studying is Sawada Laboratory. Here I am researching on developing new tactile display system. I hope my research will be useful for delivering tactile sensation in the future. Certainly, the campus life is not only about study, but also has many interesting activities. Such as, in every year school organizes some special gatherings and outings for international students. Thanks to some activities like this, I made many friends from other countries.
Besides, a few months ago I got a job offer from a company in Kagawa. So, I hope I will start a new life here in Kagawa after graduating next year.

Finally, I want to say, coming here is the best choice I made in my life. I love you Kagawa University.

Join the TV program with other menbers of Sawada Laboratory (second from the right is me)

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Now I am a second-year graduate student at Faculty of Engineering of Kagawa University. During the last two years of my stay in Takamatsu, I made many friends with people, who are studying in Kagawa University like me. We meet each other by participating in activities held by university or local organizations. For example, every year the Takamatsu city organizes a summer festival, and there is always one special group of foreign students to participate in a dance parade. When you participate in this kind of event, you meet many new people and become friends with them.

Besides the foreigner friends, I also have many Japanese friends, especially the members of my laboratory. Sometimes we go to karaoke or play bowling together or do some cooking together. To sing Japanese songs properly with them, I have learnt many famous Japanese songs.

And oh, yes, it would be bad of me not to mention my most important partner, my sports bicycle. Because public transport system in Takamatsu is not very good, bicycle becomes so necessary. The place I am living now is far from the campus. Everyday, I have to ride bicycle for about 30 minutes to go to school. In the last two years, the total distance I rode with my partner is nearly 10,000km. Looking back, this is really an enormous achievement.

That is all of my friends in Takamatsu. I like them all, and also enjoy the life here.

Cherry-blossom viewing with friends (sixth from the left is me)

 

 

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Student：Simon Pinell
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : June - Sept 2013

School life in Kagawa

The sun is already shining bright as I awake. What a great way to start the day. With a bright smile on my face I bump into two others international students in my dormitory. After a nice, small talk I hit the road to Kagawa University. Like every morning it feels like an interesting adventure and somehow I have this nice feeling that today could be the best day of my life…  

Hello, I am Simon Pinell from Germany and I am doing an internship at Engineering Faculty of Kagawa University since 2 months now. Yes, I admit I was nervous before I came here and the first days were hard because it was something completely different from the life I had in Germany. But I received a lot of help from my personal tutor, Japanese students or other international students of my dormitory so that I really felt welcomed. Due to the fact that I could barely speak Japanese as I came here I get challenged with many different tasks at University but I was able to handle all of them thanks to great help from my colleagues. As a research student here at Kagawa University I am free to manage the schedule of my internship project the way I like. I love this kind of freedom which helps me learning responsibility and time management as well as improving my professional skills. But the most important thing is that I develop my personality…

Another great day of my school life ends as I leave the University to Yashima Beach near my dormitory. Without any thoughts crossing my mind, I just enjoy the moment and watch the sun hitting the horizon while I cannot wait to be woken up again by the early morning sun. It’s this moment I realize that I am full of energy for the next day of studies at Kagawa University. It’s this moment I realize that I don’t regret any second of my decision to come to Takamatsu. It’s this moment I realize that I love the life here.

 

 

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Student：Md. Tamzeed Al Alam
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : October 2012 - March 2015

 

I have been a student in Kagawa University for last ten months. First six months I was a research student then I enrolled as a regular student in Master of Engineering course on Intelligent Mechanical System.
When I was a research student, I received great support from my supervising professor in every aspect of my study life as well as personal life. When I was new at my research, even my stupidest ideas didn’t make my professor bored. That really helped me to see through my faults in those ideas. And besides, I had and still have a great colleague to help me at any time with the matters in their reach.
Later when I enrolled as a regular student, I have got some of the greatest teachers in my life. Their teaching style, teaching philosophy, teaching material presentation have encouraged me a lot to dream to be a teacher like them in future.
I believe that every phase of life is connected with each other. If one part goes bad, others will surely reflect the result. So, my personal and educational lives are going well in parallel. Coming to Japan was like a gambling to me as I really didn’t know a lot about Japanese social system and language. But now, I am happy that I took the bet.

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My personal life in Kagawa:

It has been long since I am here in Kagawa. For the last ten months, it has been my home.
In Kagawa, my life consists of two parts. One is the school part and the second is consisted by living in dormitory, making bicycle tour in near mountains, go to the sea beach even in sunrise and late night, hiking the mountain behind my dormitory at night and the most of all is enjoying company of people from different countries in the house.
As a person, I am a family guy and I enjoy being with my family and friends. So coming to Japan all alone was a very difficult thing for me. But from the very first day of my stay here I felt the warmth of friendly people.
It’s been my regular routine to cook some cuisine from my country for the friends in the house and they also do the same for me. Being the only Bangladeshi person in the dorm, all my cooking is well received by many of those who stay in the dorm.

 

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Student：Daniel Johnson
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : October 2012 - July 2013

Hello,
My name is Daniel Johnson and I am from the United States of America. I have just recently begun my second semester at Kagawa University and have been conducting research with a lab group here for about 7 months now. For my Civil Engineering degree that I am pursuing at the University of Toledo (UT), I must complete three internships. Most students at UT complete their internships in the United States but due to an agreement between my university and Kagawa University, I have been fortunate enough to work on mine here in Japan.

For my internship, I was asked to research the topic of how metropolitan areas in the United States form. While conducting this research there have been many challenges to overcome and because of which, I feel I have learned a great deal. In this time, I have also developed skills in using programs such as ArcGIS and R, for map building and data analysis, which I feel will be great skills to have in the future. Not only was this assignment interesting and relevant to me, but it also had a broad enough scope to allow me to pursue other things of interest to me as well.

Due to the unique environment in which I am researching and studying in, I am constantly being challenged in ways that would not be possible anywhere else. During my time here, I have taken numerous Japanese classes, taught by skilled and dedicated professors, and have also taken engineering classes relating to my research, which consistently introduce me to new and interesting ideas. Throughout all of this I have had the opportunity to meet many new people from many different countries, and have become friends with a lot of them. I am grateful to have come here and am looking forward to my continuing studies at Kagawa University!


This is a picture of me with my research Professor and three other members of my laboratory.
From Left to Right: Dan Johnson (me), Yamada Tsunaki, Professor Kii, Sasaki Akie, Sone Shintaro

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I have lived in Takamatsu now for close to 8 months. In that time, there have been many different aspects of my personal life that have developed. For example, when I first arrived in Japan, I stayed with a host family of four people for a little over a week. In that time I developed a good relationship with them, and to this day I still get to see them regularly. I am often invited over to their house in the evening for dinner and stay overnight, and sometimes they even invite me on little trips like going to harvest bamboo shoots in the rural parts of Shikoku.

After moving into the International Dormitory, I began to meet many more people, many of whom have become very close friends. Living in a dormitory setting is a unique living experience that many people do not get to do. It can be irritating sometimes because everyone has different habits, but overall, you are able to get a sense of belonging if you continue to reach out and get to know the coinhabitors of the dormitory. It is rare to be lonely in the dormitory because most times there will be other people around. I often spend time together with the other residents while cooking dinner in the evening, or when randomly meeting in the hallway, or while playing table tennis on the first floor.

In addition to living with a bunch of other students, there is a club at the University that is always putting together social and cultural events for the international students to participate in. Because of that and other events that are organized by KU itself, there are lots of opportunities for the international students to get to know the Japanese students at the university. I have gotten to know many of them and they all seem to be great people.

Aside from the student life connections, I have also managed to become friends many other people that live in Takamatsu who are not at all related to Kagawa University. I was surprised to discover such an extensive network of foreigners that happen to live in Takamatsu. So now, not only can I meet with the culturally diverse members of the International Dormitory, but also people from many other countries as well. A lot of these foreigners are here teaching English and are very friendly.

Being a foreigner in Kagawa has proven to be very fulfilling and I cannot even begin to relate to you all of the great experiences I have had here. I can however give this advice: Put yourself out there, get involved, and never say no. Being a foreigner in Japan, you will get many invitations to do things and the best thing you can do is to do them all (if you can)!

The following link goes to a blog I have been keeping. Go here to get a better idea of the kinds of things I have been doing while in Japan
www.danintakamatsu.wordpress.com

picture taken during laboratory trip to Hiroshima

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Student：Maoxun Li from China
Enrollment Period at Kagawa University : October 2011 - March 2014

I am Maoxun Li and I come from China. From April this year, I will be the second year master student in Guo Lab., Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University. I am working on the research of multi-functional underwater microrobot and underwater spherical robot.

After I came to Kagawa University, the strong research atmosphere here and rich and colorful life deeply impressed me. Just like the principles says that Kagawa University is committed to educating students to be creative professionals and researchers with a deep sense of humanity through high quality educational activities.

Guo Lab. is unlike other laboratories, that most of the members here are Chinese students from overseas. So for improving our Japanese, we read Japanese books during the morning meeting every day. Besides learning Japanese, the morning meeting can also provide us a chance to communicate with each other. We also have a research seminar in our laboratory every week. In the seminar, each member should report their research progress by presentation. And I can learn a lot through the questions and comments from Prof. Guo and other members, which is helpful for my further research. In addition, professors from worldwide universities were invited by our lab to Kagawa University to do the special lectures, which broadened my knowledge and enriched my thought.

Furthermore, Kagawa University provides plenty of opportunities for students to attend the international conference as well, especially in Guo Lab. During last year, I attended two international conferences in Kobe, Japan and Chengdu China. At the conference, I had a chance to communicate with other experts, professors and researchers in my studying field, who gave me lots of useful advices and supports.

Besides the academic research, I also joined in the activities held by Kagawa University, including open campus activities, tours at a nuclear power station, a dockyard, Megi island and so on, in which, I made friends with many international students.
In a word, people in Kagawa University are very kindly. I love my university. I love my laboratory. It is like a big family for me. I enjoy my school life here.

Attending the ICME CME 2012

Tour of a Dockyard

Tour of a Nuclear Power Station

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Now, I am a second year master student in Guo Lab., Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University. In my first year here, I lived in Kagawa University International Dormitory, which is very far from the Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University. And for me, the only way to go to the university is by bicycle. In China, I never ride a bicycle. So it was hard for me to ride so far. At first it took an hour to get the university. However, with the help of my friends who lived in the dormitory, I had a happy trip every day. By riding a bicycle for one year, I find that I am healthier than before and I gradually like to bike. And I could enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way every day.
Our dormitory is surrounded by mountains and sea. In summer, we had a barbeque party on the beach near our dormitory. The beach is clear and the sea is blue. I like sea very much, which is also one of the reasons that I love Takamatsu. Near Takamatsu, there are a plenty of beautiful islands. And in last July I had a chance to go to one of them, which is Megijima. Most of the participants were overseas students. And every one enjoyed themselves and had a nice trip that day.
During the Spring Festival of this year, all the overseas students in my laboratory had a party. We made dumplings and cooked a big meal in the night. And we waited for the New Year together.

In a word, I am really enjoying the time here.

Spring Festival