Getting prepared to move to another country is a scary, but amazing experience. Moving abroad takes you out of your comfort zone and teaches you valuable lessons you definitely have not experienced or have been taught in your home country. In the last decade, Japan has become increasingly popular to study in. This is because Japan has a high-quality selection of universities, good employment guarantee, and good quality of life wherever you settle down in the country. Japan is quite known for its amazing way of doing customer service, and you get the same amazing experience when you apply to a Japanese or international university set in Japan. One of those examples is the international university Ritsumeikan Asia pacific University (APU).
(The famous twin towers of APU campus)
When you first get accepted to APU, you will be given a handbook that focuses on information about the university, how to learn Japanese and the way of living in Japan. In addition, you get a Japanese beginner language book that is actually made by the university language staff. These items will be sent to you one month before you will move to Japan and start your orientation. The orientation is one of the best memories APU students have when first arriving to the university. When you first land at the airport that is when your new life begins. You will be greeted by APU students and staff at two close airports to the university. They will help you through immigration and guide you to the bus that will drive to the university dorms. It is a 2-hour long trip where you get to see the beauty of Japanese cities, villages and landscapes. You will also get to know new students that will sit with you on the bus, and possibly make new friends. As soon as you arrive at the APU dorms that is when the orientation begins.
When you first arrive, you will be given a room, greet your dorm-mates, and get to know a lot of new people from all around the world. You are guaranteed to make friends as the next two weeks will be filled with information, but also a lot of opportunities to speak to new people. The university will help you with creating a bank account, teach you how-to live-in and respect the Japanese culture, health checkup (This is mandatory for all residents living in Japan), campus tour of the university, course registration, and a Japanese placement test as one-year study of Japanese is mandatory for beginners in the language. If you are already fluent in Japanese, then you still have to take the placement test to be evaluated on if you can skip Japanese or not. Although, learning a new language is definitely a challenge, it is quite important to learn the language of the country you reside in, especially as most Japanese do not speak fluent English. When the two weeks are over, you will experience the entrance ceremony. For this ceremony, it is important to dress up in formal or your traditional clothing, go to the city’s plaza and experience the ceremony the university has prepared. There will be a formal greeting by selected new students, the city’s mayor, the university president and then the festivities will begin. APU is a multicultural university, filled with a lot of clubs that have practiced months to prepare for the entrance ceremony. You will experience traditional music and dance from Japan, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Polynesia, Africa and many other cultural traditions. It is a wonderful experience as you enjoy other countries values, and you get to share yours as well. When the entrance ceremony is over then there will be one week left for you to prepare for classes and start studying.
(New students dressed up for the Spring 2021 Entrance Ceremony)
Because of COVID19, the orientation is a little different depending on students that are able to enter Japan and those who are not. For those that were not able to receive a Japanese student visa and have to stay at home until they are able to move will still be given orientation but will be given information related to the university only. Information regarding how-to live-in Japan such as health checkup and creating a bank account will be done as soon as you enter the country. Although, times are different, APU still operates a hybrid system for new students so that it will be online and physical so that all students can be included, even for the entrance ceremony. Therefore, we have asked four new students that started spring 2021 to write a short paragraph each about their experience for the past 2 weeks and how it feels to finally start a new life studying in Japan.
Giulia Barros from Brazil
(English version) My name is Giulia Barros. I am from Brazil and starting this April I am officially a new APM undergraduate student. Throughout this week, we new students got to experience Orientation week and the Entrance Ceremony. I was really happy that trough Orientation Week, it was available to us so many meetings through the platform ZOOM where we could have our doubts answered and learn more about APU and your college of choice. We got to talk and listen to teachers and Upperclassmen who gladly answer our questions. I am really happy that through this week I got the chance to know and understand more of APU. Although I was not able to participate in the Entrance ceremony in person, I was there through a Live video conference. It was really exciting to participate and watch the ceremony, especially when the new students' representatives gave their inspirational speech. I can't wait to meet everyone at APU!
(Versão em Português) Meu nome é Giulia Barros. Eu sou do Brasil e a partir deste mês de abril sou oficialmente um novo aluno da APM. Ao longo desta semana, nós, novos alunos, pudemos experimentar a Semana de Orientação e a Cerimônia de Ingresso. Fiquei muito feliz com a Semana de Orientação, disponibilizou-nos tantos encontros através da plataforma ZOOM onde pudemos tirar nossas dúvidas e conhecer mais sobre a APU e a faculdade de sua preferência. Conseguimos conversar e ouvir professores e alunos do último ano que responderam com prazer às nossas perguntas. Estou muito feliz que ao longo desta semana tive a chance de conhecer e entender mais sobre APU. Embora eu não tenha podido participar pessoalmente da cerimônia de entrada, estive lá por meio de uma videoconferência ao vivo. Foi muito emocionante participar e assistir à cerimônia, principalmente quando os representantes dos novos alunos fizeram seu discurso inspirador. Mal posso esperar para conhecer todos da APU!
Gustav Serfas from Germany
(English version) My experience of the orientation and entrance phase to APU was a unique and very memorable one. Despite the hurdles that Corona presents to both students and the university, the orientation phase was well organized and provided us with a flood of information to prepare us for our student life. The entrance ceremony, which welcomed us as new students, was a significant day that I was able to celebrate, unfortunately only via Zoom, with amazing new friends that I met through the APU social media groups. I am looking forward to the new courses and an unforgettable time at APU!
(Auf Deutsch) Die Orientierungsphase und die Eintrittszeremonie der APU waren eine einzigartige und denkwürdige Erfahrung. Trotz der Hürden, die Corona sowohl für die Studenten als auch für die Universität darstellt, war die Orientierungsphase gut organisiert und versorgte uns mit einer Flut von Informationen, die uns auf unser Studentenleben vorbereiteten. Die Aufnahmezeremonie, die uns als neue Studenten willkommen hieß, war ein bedeutender Tag, den ich, leider nur über Zoom, mit den großartigen neuen Freunden, die ich über die APU Social Media Gruppen kennengelernt habe, feiern konnte. Ich freue mich auf die neuen Kurse und eine unvergessliche Zeit an der APU!
Sophia Lima from Brazil
(English version) Hello! My name is Sophia and I’m a first-year student from Brazil enrolled in spring at APU. I would like to tell you a little bit about my experience with the orientation and the entrance ceremony. Clearly, at the beginning of the “school” year, everything is pretty much confusing, so the orientation helped a lot, answering questions and doubts.About the entrance ceremony, like other international students, I was pretty upset about not being able to attend in person, I know it must be thrilling. However, even though we were via zoom, we were still being part of it, it was a really nice experience!
(Versão em Português) Olá! Meu nome é Sophia e sou uma aluna do primeiro ano do Brasil matriculada na primavera na APU. Gostaria de contar um pouco sobre minha experiência com a orientação e com a cerimônia de entrada. É claro que no início do ano “letivo” tudo é meio confuso, então a orientação ajudou muito, tirando dúvidas e esclarecendo. Sobre a cerimônia de entrada, assim como outros alunos internacionais, fiquei bastante chateada por não poder comparecer pessoalmente, sei que deve ser emocionante. Porém, apesar de estarmos via zoom, ainda estávamos fazendo parte dela, foi uma experiência muito legal!
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