IMコース 留学体験記 Vol.20 留学での気づき

IMコースでは現在総勢100名を超える生徒が、カナダ・ニュージーランド・オーストラリアの3か国で留学中です。先発部隊の高校2年生は3月11日が帰国日になりますが、1年の最終局面でもそれぞれの場所で頑張っています。

今回はHさんが長編のリポートをしてくれました。カナダでの生活を長期間していると、目には見えない深い異文化の違いについて気づくようになります。Food、Fashion、Festivalは3Fと言われ、異文化の中でも気付きやすいものとされています。それに対して、宗教や政治体制や価値観などについては、歴史的・文化的・倫理的流れを理解しなければ、違いについて考察することは難しいものです。

Hさんのリポートは、日常的にカナダ人と対話を繰り返す中で気づいた深い洞察に満ちています。長編ですが、ぜひご覧ください。

Hi guys!! I’m Sora. I’ve been in Canada for 11 months, which is pretty long.

I've been thinking that would be great if I share what I learned, what I felt, and what I thought about staying in Canada for a while.

I'll be so happy if this will help you have interested in studying abroad or reflect on your studying abroad for you guys.

Firstly, I'm about to start with a "new set of values". I just want you to recall what was your reason or purpose to go studying abroad in another country. My purpose was to meet different values that I didn’t have. I was able to encounter a new set of values from the people around me. Canadian culture is different from Japanese one. One of the significances of studying abroad is to be able to look at your own culture objectively. I remember I decided to go abroad as I wanted to broaden my perspective when I was in junior high school. It wasn't until I changed hosts in September that I got to know more about Canada. When we can share what happened to you is only at dinner at my house since everyone gets together, so we talk a lot during every dinner. That time was precious to me to know about Canada. My host parents teach us about the Canadian government, religion, native people and more. In particular, I got strongly interested in religion because of them and my Catholic school. Now I study it myself. Furthermore, I was so surprised by my host sister, who is the same age with me, and my host parents arguing passionately. Have you ever discussed the Japanese government system with your parents over dinner at night? That made me sure that she was a knowledgeable person. This is how I felt my knowledge was being updated every day, and I honestly felt that I wanted to learn more new things. I have 2 exchange students from Italy and France at my house, so we sometimes discuss how different our cultures are. That was very interesting. When I told them about Japanese religion by saying "we don't have a specific religion in Japan. We celebrate weddings at church, but when people pass away, the priest comes to pray for them. We go to the shrine in the new year too." They were surprised and told me that was interesting. I had never really thought about the Japanese government, religion, and other "normal things in Japan," so this became an opportunity to think about my own country again.

Second, I'm going to tell you about "knowing yourself". If I was asked what I gained throughout studying abroad, I definitely would say "the power to control myself". In Canada, you decide what you do, not your family or friends. Also, you would meet the obstacles such as language and the changes in the environment around you. At that time, what became important was to have the "ability to know yourself and control yourself". When I felt stressed and anxious, I needed to know how to improve those feelings and keep myself in good shape. I have several ways to get myself in a good mood, and that is how I kept my mental health in check. The same goes for my studies. I had my routine, and I didn't fail the exam here.

At last, it is "mind changes". I think this relates to the environment strongly. In my case, people around me were very independent. Many people know themselves and have a core. I used to dislike my personality, which was to be concerned about what other people thought of me and suppressed what I wanted to say by reading “the air”. But after coming here, I feel that my personality has improved a little. I have even come to think of it as my strength. What I felt after coming here is that "people don't care much about other people, in a good way, of course. One day, I met this quote and impressed me very much. "You never actually know what other people think of you. You only know what you think they think of you". This is what I've wanted for a long time. This made me think that Japan's collective consciousness is stifling its own identity by imagining what others think of it.

I have three lessons I learned through my study abroad experiences. One is that you have unlimited choices in your life. You live only once, so what you can do to live better is that you need to think carefully about what to choose and what to give up. I am very grateful that I didn't give up on going abroad while I was a high school student.

Another lesson is that what you had gone through makes you who you are today. This is a little like the first one though, the choices you made in the past make you and someday when you meet the obstacles in the future, it will help you.

Last, as I said many times, knowing yourself better. This is not only for those who are going to study abroad but also is common to everyone. I think it is an important tip for studying, club activities, and school life as well.

Thank you for reading this very long article.  I hope this will be of some help to the juniors who are going to take on various challenges in their lives abroad. With only one month left to go, my classmates are in an important period to look into their future. We are going our separate ways, but let's all encourage each other as much as we can so that we will be satisfied with our once-in-a-lifetime lives.

I look forward to seeing you soon. Let's have a little more fun!