/ 3 S S Mu Yutong, Hepburn (GCS) I’m Hepburn, a fourth-year GCS student. I joined UST in 2014 and went on to study economics at Waseda University in September 2017. Schedule in Waseda is busy: normally I have to take twelve courses per semester (A LOT), each bearing two credits. Don’t think two credits imply an easier job: I have presentations, midterms, finals, essays… sometimes all of them. The system is quite different from Hong Kong’s. Each semester has four months and classes only meet once per week. Moreover, professors put main weight on final exams, so you have to be prepared for a tough week or two at the end of each semester, and manage your time wisely since there is no ‘study break’. The burden is heavy, but you make progress. Living in Japan is quite fun: eat sushi, drink miso soup, come home and say ‘ただいま’ (‘I’m back’). It’s a good opportunity to learn about Japanese culture and society since you have one year and a half to sharpen your lens. Apart from food and sightseeing, you can further explore Japanese business culture. Sharing from Waseda Dual Degree Program Students Lin Yinghui, Lily (GCS) The experience of studying in Japan opens my mind to another country that was once mysterious to me. Before I went to Japan, all the impressions on this country and the people there are based on secondary sources. Once I really experience it myself, I realize that everything is far more varied than a simple description could encompass. For example, the old impression that “all Japanese are obedient to the authority and dare not to express objection even if the authority is clearly wrong” was falsified by my interaction with some Japanese students and professors. Some Japanese students are indeed adept at critical thinking and have no fear in expressing their true feelings. Besides that, it is also remarkable that joining this program has brought me the opportunity to meet a bunch of friends coming from different Asian universities. We discuss important political and economic issues in East Asia in class, and go to several interesting study trips together.
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