Masaaki Hata, School of Mechanical System Engineering(3)

Diary for Michigan Exchange Program
Masaaki Hata, School of Mechanical System Engineering

Finished the exchange program... When I studied or enjoyed something with my friends, I did my best so that I wanted to make this precious 9 months of studying abroad life satisfactory. After I finished the exchange program, what I thought about it is that this studying abroad life in Saginaw was like "the dream time. " It means that I had a productive life in the USA and it was also no longer than a fleeting moment.
Through this studying abroad, I learned so many things: the improvement of linguistic ability, communication, encounter, change of behavior against academy and so forth. Also, there are so many people who come from various countries to study. Thus, I had experiences about cultures and dishes of the countries.
When I was in Saginaw Valley State University, I got a lot of opportunities to introduce about Japan to foreigners: I made a presentation for Japanese culture at the International Student Club called "ISC" where I was one of the members. Also, at the Intercultural night, I explained about what was going on in Japan after the Tsunami and earthquake that happened to the north part of Japan, and we raised a relief fund on campus for the accident.
The readers are probably the people who are at least interested in the exchange program or who already had similar experiences. If you want to study abroad through the program, you need to consider the reason like "what makes you want to study abroad" or "what you want to do in your future after the program. " Otherwise, you will lose your purpose to study abroad, which spoils the limited 9 months. Also, I believe that it is not a good idea that you want to study abroad just for the improvement of English because it is impossible to change your English skill to the level of native English speaker only for the short term of 8 or 9 months. It is for sure true that there is no end about language. In terms of daily conversation, we can be better than before studying abroad. However, it is enough with only language study if you just want to improve your daily conversation skill. In my case, I thought the exchange program would lead me to work overseas in my future and I didn't need to pay for tuition to an American university in the exchange program, which means that I was able to study there at the lower expense. Therefore, I chose this program. Indeed, I didn't get enough knowledge at all. However, I realized how excited I learned academics and I got so many things that I stated earlier. There things will help work in my future. I believe that you will have a great life in the USA if you have a deliberate reason to choose the exchange program.
The exchange program in USP is the best choice for the beginning of your global activities. The expense is really cheap. (For me, I saved my own expenses a lot because I got scholarship every month) Additionally, I guess that even if this is the first time to study abroad, you will be able to have a nice time so that you stay in the USA just for 9 months. I hope all of you who read this diary will be interested in studying abroad and go overseas by yourself.

(June, 2011)