Starting Off an Adventure in Japan with a Great Event and New Friends
Jan 28, 2020 (Tue.)
The Spring Semester has just started with 223 new students, bringing the total enrollment to 320 students. With the arrival of the new students, our campuses are now filled with excitement and also some anxieties. Anyone, who has just moved to a different country, feels anxious about adjusting to the new environment and making new friends. To ease such anxieties, a BANGOHAN (dinner) Event was held at the cafeteria on the Gotenyama Campus. On January 21, the event was organized by the RAs of the GLOBAL COMMONS YUI, an international residence hall, and approximately 230 students participated. All participants were very excited about meeting each other and making friends.
This event served to break the ice for the new students and help them learn about Japanese culture through games and authentic cuisine. Students enjoyed chatting with new friends while eating Japanese style curry rice and mochi (rice cake) as a dessert.
After dinner, they played Fukuwarai and a quiz game about Japanese culture and lifestyle. Fukuwarai is a traditional Japanese game in which blindfolded players place cutouts of facial features such as a nose and eyes on a blank face. Students completed against each other and the outcomes were very funny, resulting in lots of loud laughter.
The event gave students a great opportunity to get to know each other in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. We hope the relationships with fellow students will grow stronger throughout the semester. They certainly have made a good start.