▲ Yang Seung-hye poses with her fellow exchange students in Akita International University.
I can say the time I spent in Akita International University (AIU) was my highlight of college life. Actually, before choosing a university for exchange program, I had never concerned AIU as my option to go. Although Japan has been my target country as an exchange student, AIU was not in my list due to the fact that there was no one who has been there from Ewha, so there was not enough information. Simply I just did not want to do that kind of “gambling.” However, when I had my turn to choose which school to go, the schools I wanted to go were already full with other students, so I had only AIU among the universities in Japan. I think that was the luckiest moment in my life so far.
AIU is totally different from other universities. It is absolutely unique. There are about 700 students including foreign exchange students, and most of them are living on campus which is surrounded by beautiful scenery. You can imagine AIU as a small village which means that you can make friends who are not only Japanese, but also students from other countries easily.
I was living with Japanese freshman in a dormitory called “Komach hall.” For me, it was the first time to live in the dorm with someone, so I was a little bit nervous but no sooner I started to live in there, I realized that I made rightful choice of choosing dormitory over the Global Village, a housing for self-living students, thanks to my kind roommate and delicious meals.
I took three business classes and a Japanese class. All the classes were given in English. Professors are also from several countries. I could feel exactly what “international” means. Only 10~15 students are in one class, which is maybe impossible in Ewha. All classmates could interact with each other and professors easily. AIU serves very high quality Japanese classes to exchange students. Before going to AIU, I could only recognize Hiragana, a type of Japanese letters, but thanks to AIU’s class, my Japanese far much improved, compared to my Japanese before going to AIU.
If there is someone who is interested in making a lot of international friends and studying not only English but also Japanese, I strongly recommend AIU as a university to go.

*Yang Seung-hye (English Language & Literature, 4) studied at Akita International University in Japan.

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지