Maryville College - Chilhowean Yearbook (Maryville, TN)

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Everything is new and exciting for me! I am now in America, a country 25 times as big as my homeland, Japan. Living in a foreign country has been my long-cherished desire since childhood. I am lucky that I could get the opportunity to realize my dream in my youth. Americans are very friendly, and everyone naturally greets me with a warm smile and a Hi! How are you? when we pass on the campus, even though the other student may not know me at all. I am particu- larly impressed by the friendly, informal relationships between col- lege freshmen and upperclassmen. In a Japanese university, freshmen students traditionally regard their older classmates with deference, always addressing them with great formality and respect. On the contrary, American students look upon one another as equals, re- gardless of academic status, and freely and frequently engage in friendly conversation. Other differences I have noted between American students and their Japanese counterparts are attitudes toward education and class- room behavior. For example, although Japanese high school students work very hard, college students, except for the-intellectually elite who intend to go on to graduate school, tend to be lazy and more interested in social life than in academic pursuits. In contrast, the American students I have observed are serious and hard-working. As for classroom behavior, the Japanese student rarely engages in dialo- gue with his instructor, while the American student is encouraged to participate actively in questioning sessions and discussions. Now I will confess my problems as a foreign student. At first, I was discouraged and down many times because the teachers all spoke too rapidly. Fortunately, I have become more used to the English idiom. However, speaking English still is my greatest problem; for example, while I am looking for the words to express my opinions or questions on one subject, the teacher begins to talk about another. The same thing happens in converstations with my American friends. I love the variety of character found in America, and I am eager to get to know people, but sometimes my lack of words causes misunderstanding. I appreciate my American friends ' kind explanations to me whenever I have trouble understanding English. How I wish I could rapidly speak out my feelings and thoughts in English as I do in my native language! I could get to know Americans much better. Living outside my homeland, I have come to have a stronger cons- ciousness of being Japanese. To my surprise, some Americans unex- pectedly talk to me in Japanese, although they speak in fragments. Others, anxious to know about Japan, ask me a variety of questions ranging from dating habits to serious political and economic matters. Although I cannot answer every question put to me about Japan, I enjoy talking about my homeland and my native customs. In the future I hope to broaden my own knowledge about Japan as well as the United States By Mitsuko Kuwabara 25

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Foriegn Students 24

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