Voice from International Students

Establishing my everyday life took some time. But I was supported from the beginning by Doshisha’s offices staff (OIS & faculty office) and by my supervisors and professors. Because I was a self-financed student, I gladly received 30% tuition reduction together with a scholarship covering many of my extracurricular expenses, especially expenses such as apartment rent.
Little by little I began to get used to the new environment. I steadily furnished my apartment and grew accustomed to manage my living: How to pay for groceries, order food or redeem payments. I made quickly friends with my lab mates and others that I became acquainted with through lectures or Co-Learning Program.
My university schedule was very flexible except the obvious regular attendance to lectures. For the ISTC – but also like every other master’s student at Doshisha – research work is conducted. I was allowed to start off with a self-chosen topic, related to the overall laboratory purpose; in my case in direction of circuit simulation at the Electric Circuits and Systems Laboratory. State of research was communicated on a usually regular basis approximately each month. Meetings were held each week to discuss about various organizational things. Additionally to the required lectures without influence on the final grade (GPA), I also attended Japanese language courses voluntarily and learned Japanese in my spare time 1-2 hours a day in average – as long as I had not a long day.
During the semester holidays I took the opportunity to travel in Japan or to pay a visit to family in my home country. Although Japan’s “highways” are absolutely not comparable with highways in Germany (the notorious “Autobahn”), the road trip to Kyushu was an unforgettable experience.
However, all this changed with the appearance of COVID-19. I believe I was extremely lucky: Japan appeared to have handled the pandemic fairly well in the sense that there were not any tight or severe lockdown restrictions that intervened greatly in personal freedom. But also Doshisha University put anti-corona measures into place: Mainly by restricting entry into the campus and moving lectures to the internet. With gradual improvement of the infection situation, these restrictions were loosened and entry into the campus and laboratories became possible again. For my research, I was able to continue it at home on my personal computer because of its theoretical nature. Personal small-class lecturing was reintroduced. Surely, it has not been ideal, but I got along quite well. Doshisha continued to support me during this time and has handled the situation fine in my opinion.