Hello dear readers
My name is Douglas, I’m 24 years old and I’m from Switzerland. My home institution is the UASNS (University of Applied Sciences Northwest Switzerland). I live in Berne and my university is a 30 minutes train ride away from my place. The program I am currently enrolled in is called Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (International Management). They add the international part because all courses are in English, we have lots of exchange students from all over the world also attending the same courses and we have to do at least one semester at a university abroad. I will be at the Kansai Gaidai University for one semester.
I have many leather bound books and my apartments smells of rich mahogany…that’s just an inside joke. I love movies, music (electronic to acoustic), travelling, hanging out with my friends, corona beer with lime, whisky coke, women, basketball, good food (schnitzel, salmon maki, Indian etc), ping pong…
Why Japan?
I couldn’t just say where I wanted to go if I wanted to profit from the partner universities program my school had offered. There was a lottery and about 150 students where attending this event. I got very lucky to get a place at Kansai Gaidai University because at the time they offered only 2 free spots and I do not regret accepting this opportunity. I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I came here, I was eager to do my exchange semester abroad in Asia, at that time it didn’t really matter that much to me where in Asia.
First impressions
Well, apart from watching some disturbing Japanese movies I had absolutely no clue what Japan was like. There are some norms that I have to get used too like not drinking in public, which is by the way (sadly) extremely common in Switzerland or not having any paper towels in the toilets for drying the hands after washing them except for the CIE building. I’ve been twice to Tokyo and I did a trip to Kyoto and went for dinner to Osaka, Kyobashi or Umeda etc. Tokyo has until now been the most mind blowing experience for me since I’ve arrived here. The first time I went to Tokyo was with Cristina, a lovely Brazilian person from my home university and we went to a Brazilian festival in a park near the famous harajuku street. The festival was good fun, great food and the women...
At night we found a capsule hotel, which was a first time experience for me and I can recommend it to anyone who would like to feel like an astronaut for one night, these things are small! We went to a restaurant called Gonpachi, apparently one of the scenes of Kill Bill volume one was shot there. Later we went out and we met lots of cool people in the Ropongi Hills area. There are a lot of Bars on that street so you definitely have lots of options.
I’ve been to harajuku street which has some funny but also disturbing personalities, it’s more like a zoo and it reminded me a lot of Camden market in London although Harajuku street is unique, I enjoyed it and was able to find two batman t-shirts and a joker t-shirt. I’ve been looking for batman t-shirts for quite a while now. Yes, I like Batman, it doesn’t mean I’m a nerd. Japanese students from Kansai Gaidai University have been very welcoming and helpful to me, it’s not difficult to make friends here and I appreciate it a lot so thanks to all of you out there, you know who you are!
Campus live
Good lord do I love lunch here! Since all the local students have started their courses on September 25th I feel the Campus has become a little city, which is very contrasting to Hirakata itself, I love watching all the people, there is so much to see. Some girls wear very short skirts or jeans, I would like to export this kind of fashion to Switzerland. The Japanese language is difficult for me for I have no pre knowledge about it and the course is quite fast. I also would like to give a shout to the international students at Kansai and all the new friends I could make from all around the globe.
If you have enjoyed this poorly written blog please join again next month.
If you feel like punching me, please refer to the CIE office for complaints.
If you’re a hot female and think I’m hot, please don’t hesitate to contact me personally.
Arigato Gosaimasu
Yours truly
DK