Natsumi Tanaka

Osaka Prefecture University, Japan
Exchange to University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

First of all, I would like to thank the Cheung Kong Group for assisting me with my “exchange life” in Australia and making my experience more memorable. I learnt a lot of things through my one year stay in this multicultural country by pushing myself to attempt things I had never tried before.

I have currently been studying the tourism business, education, and French language along with my English studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. The first thing that came to my mind when I arrived in Sydney was how multicultural this city was. This greatly contrasts with my life in Japan, as it is a very homogenous society compared to Australia, where people from all over the world live together. In Japan, almost everyone has the same cultural identity, and we are easily able to identify people with similar social identities to our own. Therefore, it was both challenging and interesting to study with people whose national characteristics were quite different.

For example, I learnt how to cooperate with them to do group work at the university and live together at the university dormitory. I have come to the conclusion that one of the keys for successful communication is to accept our cultural differences and to respect our own values. Although the same thing applies in Japan, I feel it is more important in this society where the differences between people are larger.

Living on my own in a different cultural world for the first time was also a precious experience for me. During my stay in Australia, I met many amazing people and made a lot of new friends. We shared a lot, both great and difficult times, through studying together, living together, and hanging out together. Travelling around Australia with them was also an unforgettable memory. Each place attracted me in a different way, including beautiful oceans, miraculous deserts and cultural cities.

It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know people of different nationalities, age, gender, and occupations, despite the language barrier. I will miss my days with friendly people in such a lovely country with blue sky and brilliant sunshine.

I acknowledge and appreciate the support given by my friends in Australia, as well as family and friends in Japan, without which my new life in 2010 could have been a much harder one.

Finally, I would like to strongly recommend this exchange programme to other international students. Thank you very much once again to the Cheung Kong Group, the University of Technology, Sydney, my family and my friends in both Australia and Japan who made my “exchange life” amazingly enjoyable and unforgettable!

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