By Eri Furukawa
I came to Baylor this August as an exchange student from Japan. I have never been to America before, so I came here for the first time. I am having an amazing life now. All of my experiences here are fresh and wonderful for me, and I have never experienced like this life before. For example, there are delicious American foods, good weather every day, and a lot of kind people.
If you come to Japan as an exchange student like me, you can absolutely spend a special life in Japan than you imagine now. I will introduce about similarities and differences between Seinan Gakuin University, which is my university in Japan, and Baylor University. First of all, both of them are Baptist universities which are also called mission schools and are sister universities.
On the other hand, there is a difference about the dormitory. There is only one dormitory at Seinan Gakuin University. It is an international house, so almost all students who live there are exchange students from all over the world.
On the contrary, there are so many dormitories at Baylor University. The reason why there are a lot of dormitories there is that Baylor University aims to have 50 percent of undergraduates living on campus.
The dorms at Baylor University are so comfortable and livable. The students who live in each dorm get along with each other. Moreover, most residential communities have dining hall at Baylor University. There are five dining halls. The students at Baylor University can pick up any foods they like, and they can take as much as they want. On the other hand, there are two dining halls at Seinan Gakuin University.
The students there can choose the menu by themselves. Each food has a respective price. For example, if I want to eat rice, salad, and miso soup, I have to pay for each of them. Also, in Japan, there are some kinds of lunch boxes, breads and sweets. We can buy them at a set time from Monday to Friday.
As you have read, we have some differences between Japanese universities and American universities.
If you come to Japan, you can experience some wonderful time which you cannot do in America. Furthermore, if you live in international house, you can make a lot of friends who come from all over the world. Japanese life makes you happy.
Eri Furukawa
Onojo, Japan, sophomore
