Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarship report by Maki Onodera

Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholar, Maki Onodera, spent six weeks studying English in Cambridge in autumn 2012. She is now back in Japan continuing with her undergraduate degree in English Literature at Tohoku Gakuin University. You can read her report below.

My six-week stay in the UK was one of the most fruitful experiences I had ever had in my life. Everything I heard and saw was really fresh and inspiring for me. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, which devastated my hometown Ishinomaki, I almost gave up studying abroad, which I had been dreaming of for a long time. But, owing to the Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarship (DFTS), my long-cherished dream finally came true this summer. In addition to the DFTS, I’d like to be thankful to all the people concerned who took care of me.

It was my first time to study abroad, so before leaving for England I was worried whether I could make friends there, communicate with other people in English. However, I soon got used to living there because my host family took care of me very kindly.

My host family consists of father, mother, and two daughters. They were very kind to me. On the first day, I got lost on the way back home from school. I got off the bus at the wrong bus stop. What was worse, it was already dark, and there weren’t any people around me. I was at a loss what to do. I was so scared,　and desperately tried to find people for a while. Finally I found someone and he kindly let me use his mobile phone. I called my host family and my father soon came to pick me up by his car. I was so relieved that when I got to my host family’s home, I cried. Then my host mother held me tight like my real mother.

I was very fortunate to have such a kind host family. My two host sisters and father spoke to me during every dinner and talked a lot about school, our cultures, favourite foods and so on. They always cared about me so I didn’t become homesick.

At the beginning of my stay in Cambridge, I didn’t know where I should take the bus to go to school nor where my school was. I took it for granted that the name of every bus stop would be announced through the bus speaker before it stops as in Japan. In fact there was no announcement at all. So I sometimes got off at the wrong bus stop. I plucked up my courage and asked local people and bus drivers many times where I was now. However, thanks to having made a lot of mistakes, I had many chances to talk with local people in English.

During my stay in England, I was surprised at many things. One of them was the English weather. It’s certainly quite changeable and a sort of mixture of sunny spells and heavy showers. Therefore it’s no exaggeration to say that in England people couldn’t live without an umbrella each and every day. How different from Japanese weather!

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that in England people ride bicycles on the roads. In Japan we usually ride a bicycle on the sidewalk, but in the UK bicycles are given more priority on the roads than cars.

I went to a language school in Cambridge. There were lots of people from all over the world. In the class, most students could not only speak English fluently but also express their feelings and opinions smoothly. They also laughed easily when a teacher said some jokes. At first, it was really hard for me to understand what they said and make friends like in Japan, because my speaking and listening ability in English was not good enough. I always thought that if I could follow what people are saying, I would communicate with them better and make friends more easily.

At first I had a hard time getting used to school work. I was very sad that I couldn’t speak and express what I wanted to say in English. But when I couldn’t understand , I always tried to ask my class mates and teachers for help, whether or not my English was correct. They were all kind to me and explained clearly every time until I understood. As time went on, I gradually became able to communicate with my friends and understand spoken English without difficulty.

After the class, I went to lots of places with my friends; Zoological Museum, King’s College Chapel, Punting, and old churches. Surprisingly, they are all free. When the weather was lovely, we went to the parks near our school to have lunch and just enjoy chatting. There were many big parks in Cambridge. There were many people enjoying their time together, playing Frisbee and cards in there. We had a nice relaxing time in the park, and it made us forget time passing by. In the evening, we often went to a pub and talked about various topics. For example, about our cultures and languages, our future dreams, Cambridge food and so on. Talking to people from around the world outside the classroom gave me very good opportunities to improve my English. Even though I couldn’t speak their native languages, I could communicate with them, get various kinds of information, and connect to the world in English. Also it was good for me that I could look at Japan from outside and get an opportunity to widen my horizons by talking to the people from many different cultures.

I was so happy to be surrounded by such wonderful friends, host family, and teachers. All in all, my experience in UK was one of a lifetime.

At first I was faced with many difficulties, but I managed to overcome them and developed self-confidence. If I hadn’t come to Cambridge, I wouldn’t have felt such feelings. This is my treasure I couldn’t buy with money. I can’t tell the Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarship how grateful I am. From now on, I’ll make every effort to move forward to achieve my goal and make my dream come true.