This time the World Campus – Japan participants get a lecture on Nara and how it was once the capital of Japan. We also learn about learning about Zen meditation and get to try in a budist temple under the instructions of a monk. Sara talks about her experience with these topics.
Today started with a lecture about Uda city. We learned about Uda city with Mr. Matsumoto, a former elementary and middle school teacher and current firefly breeder. Mr. Matsumoto talked to us about the history of Uda and the city’s basic information. One of the most interesting things that I have learned is that Uda was in fact officially declared as a city only 10 years ago, when four nearby towns and villages decided to come together. Yet in spite of Uda’s beautiful scenery and wonderfully kind people, it continues to face issues. One of the biggest problems that Uda is facing is its decreasing number of younger population and a rising elderly population.
In the afternoon, volunteers kindly drove my fellow World Campus – Japan members and I to Renshouji Temple. There, we were able to experience Zen meditation, a unique and calming experience for both the body and mind. We were taught posture, breathing, and thinking, the three main aspects to a successful Zen meditation session. While the usual meditation sessions were 30 minutes, we did 13 minutes seeing that we were all beginners. The head monk also walked around during meditation to hit anyone who either did well, needed help, or voluntarily wished to be hit. After the meditation session, we were given snacks and tea provided to us by the temple.
Today was an amazing day that I will never forget. My mind did truly become calmer, and my thoughts clearer. I hope I can return and try Zen meditation again next year!
Yusi Wang, China
World Campus – Japan participanta get some work experience in Osaka and get to meet the juggling club at Kansai university. This time Charlotte talks here experience from this day
We went to the shopping street in Suita, where we were each assigned to a specific shop. A group of five World Campus – Japan participants (including myself) were supposed to be teaching English, but ended up getting a private karate class from our student instead! At the end of the class, we decided to thank our student/sensei by performing some Rakugo for her, which we learned about for the very first time yesterday. I did not want to perform then, because I’m not good at improvising, but today I felt confident enough to try. And I actually sorta liked it, too!
Later in the day, we went to Kansai University to interact with the students. First, we got to play with the juggling club’s materials. My favorite was the diabolo: spinning it was easy and fun. I also tried really hard to catch it after throwing it up in the air, but I just couldn’t do it! Later, we talked about the differences between our countries, for example, what type of food we eat or how we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Our group’s question was: “what do you study at your university?” It turned out we all did something with languages, either English, Japanese, Korean or computer programming (we think it counts).
When the day’s program was over, we made plans with some Japanese students to hang out at the arcade the day after. We might also see them again at the Arigato Event. Somehow, World Campus makes it easy to make foreign friends, even when we have little time together!
Francine Geurts, The Netherlands
Hello, my name is Magnus and I’m from Norway.
Today we had our personal day in Suita. We were all excited for this day. A lot of people did different things such as going to the Osaka-castle. In this text I will describe what I did:
In the morning me and some other participants went to Yodobashi, a store that sells all kinds of electronic stuff. No one really bought anything but it was fun to look around. After meeting up there we went to Spa-world. Spa-world is the largest Onsen (Hot spring) in Suita. We planned on staying there for 2 hours but ended up staying for 4. This basically happened because we discovered a floor with slides and pools. We completely forgot to watch the time after that. After that we were all pretty hungry so we decided to eat dinner at a special restaurant that serves VERY large portions. We got a gigantic Yakisoba (noodles) plate for 10 people so you better believe we all were very full after that meal. Then we walked around in Osaka downtown for a while until we finally spontaneously decided to go to Karaoke where we had a lot of fun. Sadly my throat started hurting a lot after singing the rock version of jingle bells. But it was worth it.
This basically sums up my personal day.
Magnus Krumbacher, Norway
