When I look back the Hawaii-Nanzan Short Exchange Program, I can confidently say I made the right decision to apply for this program. The reason is I got the opportunity to interact with different culture, people and also my own strength and weakness. It was difficult for me to make the decision to apply for the program. I was concerned about all the big presentation, events and preparations. I also was concerned about the home stay since my house is not located at a convenient distance. However, I decided to apply because I realized I would never get a chance to do something like this if I did not participate in this program. Also, I realized it was once a lifetime opportunity given by all the supporters from director, professors to the staff at Nanzan’s British and American Studies and GP Program. As I prepared for events and presentations, I faced many difficulties. To be honest, I was very frustrated once and I was feeling too much pressures. However, throughout those conflicts, I learned nothing can be accomplished by only one person, but with many people cooperating with each other and supporting each other, nothing is impossible. I found I have a weakness to speak up my thoughts and lead the group. On the contrary, I found I am good at organizing group’s work and creating meeting memos. HN-Exchangers have different areas of strengths and weaknesses. That is why we made it through the program by redeeming each other’s weakness. I feel a stronger bond with other members as well because we went through all kinds of challenges together. The contents of the program made me grow and improve myself too. Since we needed to make events from scratch by students, I gained a sense of responsibility. Also, I think this was the first time to interact with students from different countries for such a long period. We spent time together for 10days in Hawaii and 10 days in Japan, so we got to talk about many different topics. We each found out about different cultures and regions too. For me, building a strong friendship with students from Hawaii and also from Nanzan was very a precious gift that I gained through participating in this program. All in all, I never expected to get this much opportunity by participating in Hawaii Nanzan Short Exchange Program. I think I am very fortunate to get a chance to be part of this program. I would like to remember what I learned from this program and keep improving myself.

by Mei K.