Day 21 and still not over the fact that the exchange is over

Now, three weeks after the exchange and having settled back to Finland, it is time to go back in time and think about Japan again.

The endless chain of unforgettable adventures from Tokyo to Okinawa and South Korea, the cultural differences always waiting for you behind the next ramen store, all the little things in the everyday life at the campus, the sharehouse and the conbinis.

Friends from so many different countries from all around the world with just as many different backgrounds, tied together in the crossfire of the never-ending tests and quizzes of the language course and the survival battle of the poorest (students) in one of the most expensive cities you can find.

We set off to Japan with very cautious expectations, in order to prepare as well as possible for what was to come and not to be disappointed should we mess something up while at it in Tokyo. We expected

1) to have to use a ridiculous amount of €€€ per month for housing, food and transportation just to survive,
2) to ride metros so full of people that we could not take a step and
3) to find out that no one speaks English in the whole country.

This actually worked: we took two basic courses in Japanese before the exchange, and without hesitation, we joined the language teaching at our host university later on, even though it was not obligatory. Most people did not speak a word of English, so this was great preparation and helped a lot. For something complicated such as opening bank and phone accounts, try the big places such as Bic Camera in Shinjuku for phone connection and Japan Post Bank head office in at Tokyo Station. Metros were crazy-crowded indeed, but luckily our lectures were later in the day and we did not have to ride any rush hour metros. Don't use rush hour metros, you really really really don't want to do that.

One thing got us off-guard, though: bureaucracy. In case Things can be accomplished if you're persistent like granny in the snow (an excellent Finnish proverb) and run your errands in a polite and respectful manner, but for the sake of your mental health and to save your free time between the studies, do act within the deadlines the university gives you!

Open mind is your best friend in Japan. Be spontaneous, be curious, don't hesitate to jump into new things and always remember healthy respect towards others. With the right attitude you will find all the help you need, enjoy your time the most and everything will go well in the end.

The crazy moments spent explaining something important to someone who doesn't speak English yet somehow magically you reach understanding after half an hour of talking. The wow moments when you discover something new, something so huge and different compared to your home country. The memories, the ones of the good times and those of the harder times.

All that made our time in exchange in Japan something that we will never forget.

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Our travels included far more destinations than Okinawa and South Korea. For more information, absolutely fabulous images and useful travel tips for those who travel inside Japan, do check out our Instagram channel @our157daysinjapan:

https://www.instagram.com/our157daysinjapan/

About the courses and studies at Sophia University

Already before you leave for Japan, you will be asked to fill in a form called Learning Agreement. For us Master’s students, we have to fill in that form courses worth 24 credits. In the case of Sophia University, the first complication is that at Sophia the credits are not counted the same way as at Aalto: 8 credits at Aalto equals 4 credits at Sophia. So, you will need to pick three courses (most of the courses available for exchange students seem to be 4cr) to have enough studies for your exchange. Personally, I highly recommend taking a course in Japanese language as one (because you really need the language to survive in Japan), leaving you able to pick two courses more related to your major at Aalto.

This is where you can find the online syllabus of Sophia University:

http://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/studentlife/academic_services/syllabi/Syllabus-inquiry

The syllabus includes all the study programmes, which is a LOT of courses, so you might want to narrow it down a little bit. Unfortunately, it was not possible to only choose the courses that are taught in English, so we could not filter it any better than by the programmes that are taught at the Yotsuya campus, the only campus where we exchange students could take studies. 

The Master’s Programmes in Global Studies, Economics and Global Environmental Studies all include courses that are held in English and are possible for us to study (if your background is adequate). The syllabus search engine did cause some serious frustration with the course selection, as most course titles that appear in the search results are in English, yet when you clicked the title to see the details of the course you would most often find only Japanese text, meaning that actually the course is only for those with native-level Japanese. Hopefully they will make some changes here sometime soon.

About the Japanese language course, I wish I had known back then that in the beginning of each semester, Sophia will organize a language course placement test that will determine the level of your language studies and therefore the very specific course that you will be placed in. There are so many different language study groups and all the course codes, but actually you don’t have to worry about it at all – the school will find you a suitable group based on the results of your test. 

If you don’t have any prior knowledge of Japanese language, or if you have but still wish to start studying from the very basics (it starts with learning hiragana and katakana), then just skip the language test and you will be placed in one of those beginners’ groups. 

At Sophia, I tried to find courses related to my major, but I could not find any that would directly be about corporate communication. Therefore, I chose courses Corporate Finance and Corporate Strategy, since this was the perfect chance to study other interesting subjects outside my own degree programme. The content of the strategy course was not unfamiliar to me, but studying it now for a period of over four months certainly increased my understanding of the topic and gave a far more concrete idea of the strategy work at corporations. 

I can recommend the strategy course to everyone who has some background in strategy, as well as I can recommend the finance class to everyone who wants to learn about the portfolio theory and some of the basic principles of corporate finance.

Hopefully you find this information helpful, I know it would've decreased my stress level before the exchange for sure!

My time in the sharehouse in Nishiarai

This link is exactly where i live
http://gghouse.co.jp/en/property/a3/

This is how my room looks like

It is cozy and has plenty of space for me even though at first, I was very skeptical about it.

The area is very quiet and about 20 meters away, there is a police station so I would not be scared of thieves.

GG house provides the house with a fast internet connection, hairdryers, a washing machine, hangers for clothes, cooking oil and seasoning, pot, pan, dishes, chopsticks, vacuum etc,... really, there are more things available than you need :D and it is all included in the price. Every 5 days, there is a cleaning lady to come and clean up but if you have any common sense, you should clean your mess after cooking and personal business too.

On the other side of the house, there is a cheap food store and Seria 100 yen shop, and near Nishi arai station which is 10 mins away, there is Aeon (food store also but bigger). I have to say the location is very awesome.

However, the transportation from Nishi Arai to Tokyo is a bit minus, it takes about 45 minutes but I need to trade-off. However, Hibiya line is not very much crowded like other lines in center of Tokyo so I guess it is not that bad.  For me, I have class at 11 am every day so I need to wake up at 9 at the latest and then start to get out of the house at 9.35 to catch the train at 9.47 to arrive Yotsuya at 10.45.

I have to say I had a great time living in GG house with no hesitation. However, I had some problems with people living in the same share house because of their hygiene and messing schedule but that is not GG house problem, I guess I need to raise my voice :(.

If you choose to live there (or anywhere), make sure that you read the contract carefully, follow the rule, please be clean in the common space, and appreciate others. Then every moment living there, it will be like your real home!

Stay tuned!