Mrs. Clare is a graduate of CCNU, who just came back from Japan three months ago. She had spent about 6 years in Hokkaido University studying for her doctor’s degree. As fate dictates, she finally returned to her Alma Mater, CCNU, to start her career of teaching. On 17th March she gave us a speech about her life of studying abroad.
“The education system in Japan is quite different from China.” She said, “In the first year, you can try all kinds of courses in order to find out what subjects you like most, which is essential for you to make choice of specialty in the second year. During the freshman year, every academy will set up courses that are interesting and attractive enough to appeal to students, and part of the reason is that, an academy will be knocked out, if there is nobody for its classes. What a strict competition system!” People present all burst into laughter. “In junior year, you will receive the ‘laboratory education’. That means you will have to choose a smaller branch of learning than what you have learnt in your sophomore year. The ‘laboratory education’ is not an abstract concept that you are studying in a specific room called ‘research laboratory’. The laboratory is just like an individual library for students of the same specialty. You will find all kinds of books related to your profession there. And you can have your own desk and chair so you don’t need to worry about your seat. In the laboratory, students study together and eat together sometimes. A few people even choose to sleep in the room since the electric is free of charge, however, it can’t be a very nice sleep as there is no bed!” The audience exploded with laughter again when hearing this. Then she introduced the special foreign language education in Hokkaido University. As she explained, though there is no foreign language academy in Hokkaido University, English is the subject that everyone is supposed to learn, and meanwhile, a second foreign language is also required. There is a Center of Foreign Language Education for you to finish your foreign language study.
In terms of the procedure of studying abroad, Mrs. Clare gave us some useful tips. First, you are supposed to learn a foreign language as soon as possible. “If you do not realize that you are not able to speak a foreign language until the registration time approaches, everything would be too late.” she said. Second, you should collect information of studying abroad through all kinds of ways, Internet mainly. So that you will not miss any important messages and deadlines. Third, be patient and be bold. You may meet many rejections during the progress of application, but just hold on. Probably you are going to receive a great offer in next second! For students who are interested in overseas studying, taking an early action is a smart choice. Hope all of you will make your “abroad dreams” come true.
