Takehiro Miyazaki

Waseda University, Japan
Exchange to The University of Queensland, Australia

As an exchange student from Waseda University, I’ve been studying at Queensland University in Australia. I haven’t had any overseas experience in my life, therefore everything I touch is new, everything I see is fresh, and everything I hear is interesting to me. In this multicultural country, I experienced a lot of perspectives from people of all over the world. I’m sure that this experience is fostering my role as a global citizen and broadening my horizons. Thanks to the Endeavour Cheung Kong grant, I feel my studying abroad is proceeding successfully and I’m having a precious time here.

Among a lot of choices, I decided to live in a university dormitory named “International House”. The concept of that accommodation is “That brotherhood may prevail”, this sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Residents are from all over the world. Every person in the college has different backgrounds and their own sense of values. I really like to talk with them and exchange our points of view about different issues. I learnt a lot of things through the experience of living together, and I’m sure this would be of great help in my future.

Thinking about academic issues, I had a few difficulties in the lectures at the start of first semester. I was unable to catch enough information from the class, and it demanded further effort from me for progression. Now I can confidently say I’m improving day by day, and am successfully catching up with Australian students. Every class I have taken is interesting to me. Therefore I’m quite satisfied with the quality of lectures.

One thing that really surprised me is the climate of this country. When I came to this country, I didn’t expect the coldness at night. I had always imagined Australia to be warm and hot, without any need for long-sleeved shirts and jackets, even in winter. However, the truth is completely different. I can’t sleep without a heater in this season, and some people wear down jackets at night time. The gap between day time and night time is so big. A friend of mine once described this climate as “desert”, I can agree with this idea for now.

I was so impressed by nature in Australia. When I first went to the Gold Coast, I could say nothing to express my feelings. White sands, emerald green oceans, shining sun, all of them were beyond my description. I can clearly remember those scenes from my memory, and will never forget the magnificence of them.

Thank you again for giving me these precious opportunities.

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