Hi everyone!
Has any of you ever been to Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka? I’m going to attend the spring semester and I was wondering if any of you has more in depth information about the campus etc, because I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole situation so any help would be awesome.
3 comments
I went there pre-Covid. There’s two campuses. The housing on the Gotenyama side is state of the art. The main campus has a foreigner area that you can meet Japanese students.
The area is beautiful – very countrysideesque- and perfectly located between Kyoto and Osaka. But use the cheap and efficient train system to get out of Hirakata whenever you can.
Honestly though just experience it yourself. It was an amazing experience for me. Just don’t expect it to be a top class university.
I went for a semester a number of years ago and had a really great experience. Is there anything in particular you have questions about?
I think the best advice is to not worry about grades (unless you’re in a program that requires it, like I was). They try to put you in a class above what you’re capable of, because it looks good if the university has many higher level students. When I started there, there was a pretty big gap between the kanji I had studied, and the level 5 kanji they wanted me to do. I talked with the teacher and told her I didn’t recognize any of the kanji in her class that we were supposed to already know,. I got them to put me in level 4 kanji, which were a lot more suitable.
A very good thing is that the teachers are very nice and fun people. They are very understanding, and I had a great time talking with them. I had a lot of great conversations with Karin Swanson and John Shultz. Both their classes include weekend travels and seeing a lot of great sites, which I recommend.
It’s also worth noting that passing is very easy, but if you need high grades, you really have to work your ass off (or be in a lower level classes). The school will try to push you, but it’s actually perfectly fine to not push yourself as hard as they want you to.
I recommend focusing on enjoying your stay over the studies. I did the exact opposite, unfortunately. It’s very unlikely that your Japanese studies will lead anywhere, so might as well just enjoy your time there, because I had a great time there when my face wasn’t buried in a book.