大三出國、全英語課程 - 國際視野 : 淡江大學大三出國通報及學分採認系統

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2018大三出國輔導通報系統 - 留學心得報告[編輯]

觀光Ｂ 405860023 　陳家平　　留學學校：立命館亞洲太平洋大學(日本)

(一)基本資料

The school I chose to study abroad during my junior year was Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), which is located in Beppu, Japan. Every semester in APU is divided into two quarters. Half of their courses are taught in English while others are in Japanese. Language courses such as Japanese, Spanish, Korean and more are provided. There are two colleges in APU, one of them is "Asia Pacific Studies", which includes tourism studies, media studies, international relations and more. The other is "International Management", which includes marketing, economics and more.(90字)

(二)課程學習

【照片說明：“Languages of the Asia Pacific” class during second semester.】

I have two favorite courses in APU, one of them is Japanese, and the other is Event and Festival Management. For Japanese class, we have four classes a week, and we went through one chapter a week, and we had quizzes and homework almost every day. Our teacher is very nice. During class, we did a lot of practices as well, such as dialogue, writing, and listening. At the end of the semester, everyone was in charge of giving a presentation, which was to introduce their hometown in Japanese. It was really challenging since I only learned Japanese for one semester, but at the same time, I think it's fun. Because I can learn some Japanese vocabularies from others' presentations and know other countries better. I know nothing about Japanese when I came to Japan, but now I can understand a little bit when I'm traveling or go to a restaurant. I think I improved a lot and it's really a helpful course. For event and festival management, we went through two chapters every week, the pace was really fast, but I still like it. Our professor had some experiences related to event management, so she could share it with us in the lecture when she was explaining a theory. This helps us to understand the theory more easily. Every lecture, we had to discuss a case study with our group, this helps us to understand the theory more. Every group also had to give a presentation or hand in a report in this course. Our group was assigned to hand in a report and the topic was to design a brand new event, which I found out is interesting and hard at the same time. Because of this assignment, I knew that planning an event wasn't easy and you have to take a lot of factors into consideration, such as budgeting, risk management, and logistics management. I think I've really learned a lot from this course and this course had increased my interest in learning more about event management in the future. (343字)

(三)生活環境

【照片說明：The beach beside AP House 4.】

The location of APU is really similar to Lanyang Campus, it takes approximately half an hour to school by bus from our dormitory, which is located in downtown. APU itself is not really big, but everything you can think of, such as a library, gym, the cafeteria is provided. There are also food trucks on the campus, which sells Korean food and Japanese snacks. For exchange students, we live in AP House 4, which is located at a place called Kyomachi in downtown. In AP House 4, everyone has a single room with private bathroom, fridge, and a balcony. Every floor in our dorm has a shared kitchen and a lounge. Kitchens are equipped with induction stoves, microwaves, and ovens. There's also a dining room in the kitchen. I often cooked by myself, because dining out in Japan is much more expensive than cook on your own. Sometimes, I also cooked with my friends and eat in the dining room together. The location of our dormitory is really good and convenient. Beside our dorm, there's onsen and beach. Within a ten-minute walk, there are convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores and a lot of restaurants. Although Beppu is not a big city like Fukuoka or Osaka, there's no need to worry about living problems in here. Weather in Beppu changes suddenly sometimes, so I always prepared an umbrella with me. The wind in Beppu is really strong as well. In Autumn, the temperature was 13~18 degree, but in winter it dropped to 3~8 degree. It sometimes snows in winter as well. (256字)

(四)自我成長

【照片說明：APU】

Courses in APU differs a lot depends on professors. Some courses are easy while some are difficult, some of them have to do reports or presentations and some requires a lot of readings. The first thing I have to get used to studying at APU is that the length of class time is 95 minute with no break in the middle, which is much more longer than in Taiwan. Compared to classes in Taiwan, the pace of classes are faster, because most of the classes are quarter-based. They have to finish one course in about 2 months. One of my class has to go through one chapter in the textbook every class and there are also presentations in class. It's really important to pay attention to professors in class. In my opinion, I think courses that require a lot of reading is the hardest. Because I never had to read that much in English before. One of my class has to read a chapter per class. Moreover, exam questions are based on the readings as well. I think this was the most challenging part of my study in APU. For culture shock, I think I didn't experience any. It's either because Japan is an Asian country as well or I'm a person who gets used to a new environment very quickly, so there's no problem like this for me. However, exchange students of APU come from all over the world. Some people like to have parties in the kitchen or in their room, which is noisy sometimes, and I think that's the only thing I don't get used to it. (268字)

(五)大三出國建議

I know most of the people won't take Japan into consideration as it is an Asian country, and its official language is Japanese rather than English. Studying in Japan might not sound as attractive as studying in Europe, Australia or the U.S. However, over 50% of the students in APU are international students, so if you are a person who likes multi-culture or is willing to make friends with different backgrounds, APU, which is like a global village, is recommended. There are a lot of club activities in APU which you can experience something new. Moreover, studying in Japan gives you a chance to explore Japan. Back in my sophomore year, I really didn't think that I would go to Japan for junior study abroad as well. Before I came to Japan, I know only little about Japanese culture and couldn't speak Japanese. However, staying here a year gives me an opportunity to learn a new language and to discover the culture and the beauty of Japan. I've been to places that are not so famous for tourists, like Kuramadera in Kyoto, Shikanoshima in Fukuoka. And I've learned the whole process of the Japanese tea ceremony which you cannot experience in other places. The advantages of studying at APU is that exchange students have a chance to get a JASSO scholarship, which is really helpful in my opinion. With 80000 yen per month, it's able to cover most of your living cost. I didn't expect to come to Japan before, but I never think I did a wrong decision after a year.(261字)