Joining a foreign University for advanced studies,
breeds too much tension and anxiety amongst new students. This is attributed to
the fear of the anticipated unknowns ranging from different cultures and norms,
climate, weather, language barrier to lecturing and evaluation methods. The feelings, as described above were part of
my life while enrolling for the master course in Water and Environmental
Engineering during the autumn entry period of October 2016.
I still clearly
remember the friendly welcome and orientation I received from my tutor (Nam
Duhyeon) on my very first day, which eased a lot of my anxiety. However, I must say I was still very overwhelmed
by my new life. The new students’ orientation programme organised by Associate
Prof. Fujioka Takahiro, was another life relieving event. It was during this
programme that all teaching staff in this course made English presentations of
their specific areas of research to new students. Many new and interesting research
topics were presented which caught the attention of students, an attribute that
increased the students’ motivation. The topics covered a wide range of
different engineering specialities but all tailored towards improvement of the
water environment. Unforgettable to mention was the use of English as the
language for communication which eased a lot in my new students’ life.
From the second day, onwards, I started to meet a lot
of nice people in our students’ common room, many of whom were senior students. I was also offered with an opportunity to
study Japanese intensively at the university for the first six months as an aid
to smoothen my daily transactions with Japanese speaking communities. On top of
this, I was able to attend my supervisor’s lectures which gave me a good
insight on how membranes can used for efficient water treatment.
I find much pride in being part of the water and
environmental engineering course. The lecturers are quite polite, helpful but
very efficient and diligent. Turning the various experiences which Iam learning
in this course, I want to immensely contribute to the advancement of the water
sector when I return to my country, Uganda.
Author:
Katalo Ronald
