Christofer Bäcklin
A Step Forward to Japan
The Life called KUINEP
I am a student at the KUINEP program (Kyoto University International Exchange Program) and have been studying at this university since October last year. It’s a program taught in English because as you probably have understood by now my Japanese is not good enough even to write a page in this magazine within reasonable time. We have to select at least 5 out of 10 courses in very different subjects that ranging from agriculture to history and as I have understood it, the main purpose is to enable foreign students who are interested in Japan to come here and for Japanese students to practice English. Personally I am more interested in studying Japanese and I think I am pretty fortunate to be able to do it at such a high ranked University as Kyodai I was really surprised by the reactions you can get from people outside it, 「へえ～！京大生ですか。頭がいいねえ～！」
A Happy Way in Language Study
Before I came to Japan my studies of Japanese were all done alone since there was no such course at my university and hardly even any Japanese people living in my town. I had actually never even spoken Japanese to a single native speaker until I landed at Kansai Airport which was also my first time outside Europe. Mostly it consisted of me practicing grammar and Kanji at my part time job at a train station in the middle of a forest. It was in a tiny village right between Stockholm city and the airport and sometimes I could work undisturbed for several hours without a single customer buying anything, and I got paid for it! Needles to say, it has been helping me a lot till today besides Kyodai’s Japanese classes.
In the Band with “Real” People
It is also much thanks to the brass band I joined. Even though it at first was pretty confusing and chaotic I still think it was a very good experience. It is an odd feeling to sit in a room with everyone looking and behaving totally different from you, talking and doing things you understand only very little of. They must have thought I was a pretty strange guy and I’m very grateful for their patience. It is also nice to meet people outside the international community and see what the “real” people are like.
The “日本語” In My Eyes
It has largely been a matter of reorganizing my brain to think in Japanese. As long as you think in a different language than you speak you are bound to cause a lot of misunderstanding. I still haven’t adjusted to think in kanji though which means I still see Japanese in sounds, alphabets or kana when I close my eyes. I guess it is the same reason for why Japanese have so much trouble getting the right feeling in English.
To See the World
There are many reasons for why someone would like to travel to the other side of the world to live and study. In my case it was simply because I wanted to take a break from my studies at home, see the world, do something else (and all that jazz) but why I ended up in Japan was not just a matter of chance. In Sweden, and in the rest of Europe too I presume, you only see tiny fragments of Japanese culture after it has been filtered through the western media and lifestyle and what you get in the end is mostly sushi, samurai movies, karaoke and PlayStation. Fortunately, I really like them and felt great curious to see what the real Japan is actually like. When I arrived I was overwhelmed, even though the differences from home is not as big as I though they would be (people still had two arms, two legs and birds did not fly backwards, etc.) I suddenly got an enormous amount of opportunities to do things I never knew of before. Even though one year is a long time and I have already seen and done many times more than you can possibly do on a vacation I have often felt that it is not enough. It was also interesting to see how a foreign country looks at your own culture and how little they know compared to the real thing. Like at home, what you see of Europe in Japan is just as fragmented and filtered as what you see of Asia in Europe. When I tell someone I come from Sweden they almost only think of snow, northern lights (aurora), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (a soccer player) and our social security system. Also interesting was to see that in Japan a バイキング is a kind of 食べ放題 and not a Nordic warrior from the 12th century which is what I think of. Of course this is very natural and I feel more amused than annoyed.
Why not taking a Step Forward
The point I would like to make is that if you are interested in a country why don’t you pack your bags and go there? You do not need to an expert of any kind so if you like soccer and sports cars, why don’t you go to Italy? If you like surfing and barbecue, why don’t you go to Australia? What’s more, you are right now at the perfect time in your life to do it since you are still not committed to a company or a family holding you back. It would also be a good merit when looking for a job since it proves you are outgoing and can handle unexpected situations. For me it has been a fantastic half a year so far with countless interesting experiences and I am sure you would have a great time too.
No comments:
Post a Comment