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大学での勉強がいよいよスタート
マッコーリー大学の初日はオリエンテーション。
ところが、会場に着いてみると、聞こえてくるのは日本語ばかり。
これは日本人学生対象のオリエンテーションだったのです。
さらに、履修登録の説明の場では職員に「日本関連の科目」を取るよう勧められます。
なぞここまできて日本の勉強を?と戸惑いつつ選んだ一つが、「日本文化概論」。
でも「退屈そうだな」とぼやきながら出席した授業では…。
The first steps
It was Orientation Day — the first day of my life at an Australian university. I was excited, and I went full of expectation. When I arrived, I was surprised to hear a very familiar sound: Japanese. The orientation was for students from Japanese universities. There were about 20 of them overall, from all over Japan. I was disappointed. I had expected to meet students from all over the world.
There were a number of staff on hand. One guy was particularly funny because he talked like a rapper. Another explained to me how to enroll in classes. It was very simple. You could do it all over the Internet, unlike at my university in Japan where we had to fill in an enrollment form and hand it in.
I had wanted to choose subjects related to my course in Japan, which is to do with IT and management. But the man said, "I recommend you take some Japan-related classes or classes for improving your English in Semester 1. Then in Semester 2 you can choose whatever you want to do." My first thoughts were: "I'm Japanese. Why do I have to study Japan in Australia? It's ridiculous." But the man made it sound compulsory, so I unwillingly signed up for "Survey of Japanese Culture," "Japanese Economic Development" and "Academic English."
Classes began the following week. My first class was "Survey of Japanese Culture." I was nervous. The lecturer and most of the students would be speaking in English, and I didn't have confidence in my listening ability. Also, I thought it would be boring. But I was pleasantly surprised.
My classmates were a mixture of all sorts of people. The majority came from an Asian background, and around a third were Caucasian. But they were all interested in Japan and they asked the Japanese students so many questions. They asked us about everything: from Japanese discipline and cram schools to Gundam and whether Japanese wives always give in to their husbands. At first, it was stressful. It was difficult to express myself in English. I knew the answers to the questions but I couldn't put them into English. But as we talked, I grew more comfortable, and I think we all came to have a better understanding of each other's culture.
I soon became friends with a Chinese guy who sat next to me. His name was Thomas and he was Chinese Australian. He was a real Yukio Mishima enthusiast. I also liked Mishima so we hit it off straight away. We talked about Mishima's world view and the beauty of his prose and whether his books could be translated adequately into English. We went to lunch, and we continued to chat as though we were old friends, about our countries, our interests and girls. I was so happy, because this was the first time I'd been able to freely chat with foreign people since I had come to Sydney. Of course, I'd chatted with the family I'd first stayed with, but the conversation wasn't as casual, mostly because of the generation gap.
You may have heard people say you have to study harder at universities overseas, compared to universities in Japan. It's true. Students are required to read a lot of books. In my "Survey of Japanese Culture" class, we have to sit for a small test at the end of each week, and the results of these tests amount to 30 percent of your final grade. We also have to write a 1,500-word essay this semester, prepare a presentation and sit for an end-of-term exam. How am I going to manage?
- went full of expectation
- 期待に胸ふくらませて登校した
- familiar
- 聞き慣れた
- overall
- 合わせて
- was disappointed
- がっかりした
- had expected to 〜
- 〜することを期待していた
- from all over the world
- 世界からの
- There were 〜 on hand
- 〜が出席していた
- a number of 〜
- 数人の〜
- particularly
- 特に
- rapper
- ラッパー
- explained
- 説明した
- enroll in 〜
- 〜に登録する
- unlike at 〜
- 〜と違って
- fill in 〜
- 〜に書き込む
- enrollment form
- 登録書類
- hand 〜 in
- 〜を提出する
- choose 〜
- 〜を選ぶ
- related to 〜
- 〜に関係する
- is to do with 〜
- 〜に関係する
- management
- 経営
- recommend
- 勧める
- Japan-related
- 日本関連の
- improving 〜
- 〜を上達させる
- Semester
- 学期
- whatever you want to do
- 自分の勉強したいものは何でも
- ridiculous
- おかしい
- made it sound compulsory
- そうしなければいけないような言い方をした
- unwillingly
- しぶしぶ
- signed up for 〜
- 〜の履修登録をした
- Survey
- 概論
- Academic English
- (レポート執筆、読解、発表など)大学で必要な英語
- was nervous
- 緊張していた
- lecturer
- 講師
- confidence
- 自信
- listening ability
- リスニング力
- boring
- 退屈な
- was pleasantly surprised
- うれしい驚きを味わった
- mixture of 〜
- 〜の混合
- all sorts of 〜
- いろいろな〜
- majority
- 大部分
- background
- 背景
- a third
- 3分の1
- Caucasian
- 白人
- discipline
- 規律、しつけ
- cram schools
- 塾
- Gundam
- ガンダム
- wives
- 妻
- give in to 〜
- 〜に従う
- husbands
- 夫
- express myself in 〜
- 〜で自分の考えを表現する
- put them into 〜
- 〜で表現できなかった
- grew more comfortable
- 自信がついてきた
- came to 〜
- 〜するようになった
- enthusiast
- 熱心なファン
- hit it off straight away
- すぐに意気投合した
- world view
- 世界観
- prose
- 文章
- be translated adequately into 〜
- 的確に〜に翻訳される
- chat
- おしゃべりする
- casual
- くだけた
- may have heard 〜
- 〜を聞いたことがあるかもしれない
- overseas
- 海外で
- compared to 〜
- 〜に比べて
- are required to 〜
- 〜することが要求される
- sit for 〜
- 〜を受ける
- grade
- 評価
- prepare 〜
- 〜を準備する
- end-of-term exam
- 期末試験
- manage
- 切り抜ける