Perspectives

Name:
Francis Thibodeau
Nationality:
Canada
Home University:
Université Laval
Time at AIU:
Fall 2010

 

Why I chose AIU

My home university is partnered with three institutions in Japan: AIU, Sophia University and Kansai Gaidai. When I decided I wanted to go to Japan, my study abroad director gave me a report written by a student who had gone to AIU two years before.

After looking at the websites of our all three universities and reading the report, I was charmed by AIU. The classes, the English environment, the clubs and circles, the pictures, the activities, and the quiet geographic position were part of the charm. A year before my semester abroad, my decision was made.

 

Usable Japanese Language in Just One Semester

Before I landed in Tokyo, I thought I would be able to get around in Japan using only English. I was wrong. All I knew was konnichiwa ("hello") and arigato ("thank you"). Fortunately, I had planned to take the Elementary Japanese 101 class.

For five hours a week, we had to work hard and learn fast in class, and then go home to even more hours of homework. But a devoted teacher and nice classmates made that task enjoyable! After the semester, I traveled for few days in Japan and I was really proud of myself, being able to ask for directions and order food in restaurants. I started learning Japanese for convenience, but in the end I changed my mind and plan to continue my learning at my home university.

Two of my classmates from my Japanese class from the US, and Mongolia posing with our teacher, Watanabe-sensei and "Wan," the AIU mascot. My class also had students from Taiwan, France, Zambia and Canada!

Click here for more information on Japanese language classes at AIU.

 

Hands-on, Practical Business Classes

The class I was most looking forward to before I came was Entrepreneurship because I am an aspiring entrepreneur myself. In the class, we had the opportunity to hear lectures by famous entrepreneurs in Japan.

Our big team project in that class was a business plan presentation. We had to find a business idea, form a "company" and develop our business plan to present to two business teachers and an entrepreneur. So I became the president of "Ryuugot-Linked" (from ryuugakusei – Japanese for "international student"), a five-nationality company. Our mission was to link the international students of AIU with Japan through a cell phone service. Thanks to the hard work of all my teammates, in the end we were rewarded with the highest grade.

 

	My team for the "Ryuugot-Linked" project. Our members came from the Philippines, Japan, France, Canada, and Taiwan.

 

As a business student, I also joined Dr. Lacktorin’s first Business Planning Workshop for Entrepreneurs (BPE). During our five meetings throughout the semester, we had to think about an idea and prepare a business plan to present to our classmates. Our first project was from the director of Akita Nissan. He wanted to start a one-coin rental car company and asked us if it would be profitable.

After the presentations by all the teams, he decided to follow through with his plan. He needed help to do some more due diligence for his project so he asked me! In addition to the basic homework for BPE, I was working with the director of Akita Nissan for the last month of my stay, forecasting for this new venture. I had the chance to visit his installation and meet his partners.

 

Here I am with Professor Lacktorin, posing with my hard-earned certificate from AIU's Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership Studies for Regional Economies (CELS).

Click here for more information on the Global Business Program at AIU.

 

Immersion in Japanese and International Culture Outside the Classroom

One evening, while going back to the library, I saw a group of Japanese students using swords in the entryway of one of the lecture buildings. I stopped to see what they were doing, and it turned out it was an Iaido practice. Iaido is the art of reacting to a surprise attack by counter-attacking with a sword. I liked how it was made with precise movements and looked ceremonial.

I decided to join AIU's Iaido club with my French mate and the club welcomed us warmly. Ishida-sensei has a very high level certification in Iaido and he loves to teach his passion. In November, after hours of practice, we had the chance to go for a grading. I was really nervous but confident. In the end, all five of us who tried passed san-kyu (grade 3). I was pleased: a Japanese certification of a Japanese martial art, in Japan!

 

	Here, the Iaido club members pose with their hard-won certificates.

 

Among AIU's Community Outreach Service's (COS) important roles is to link the international students with the community and culture of Akita. I did not go to Japan; I lived in Japan, mainly because of the COS team. I played shamisen (a stringed instrument) with high school students, harvested rice, helped Akita citizens in their learning of English, acted as a tour guide visiting schools, made kiritampo, a kind of rice dish, with nursery school children, ran 10km for the Akita International Family Marathon, acted as Santa Claus for two nursery schools, and more!

 

Here, AIU students from the US, Singapore, Canada, Germany, and South Korea pose after finishing the 10km run.

 

I also had the great opportunity to sleep in a Japanese temple during a weekend with members of the Chamber of Commerce in Noshiro City. What an experience! Through all those activities, I not only visited Japan, I felt it. The commitment COS members have is wonderful.

Click here to see more about the extracurricular activities offered by AIU.

I had an awesome time at AIU, in Akita and in Japan. Even if the campus is small and isolated from Akita City and other big centers of Japan, it has the benefit of being more intimate. The links built among students, and between students and faculty, were much stronger than in a bigger university such as my home institution.

Over my whole experience in Japan, the time I was hanging out with friends, both Japanese and international, is my most memorable.

 

	My new friends from all over the world came together to prepare food from their countries - just one of the great ways I got to learn about other cultures during my stay at AIU.

 

My "Perspective"

AIU: where strangers from all over the world arrive, and friends leave!