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Oι Εμπειρίες του κ. Ι. Ιωακείμ

 

" Μy Life in Japan. A dream..."


My name is Ioakim Ioakim and I come from Cyprus.
I studied civil engineering at National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and also Technology in Education at University of Sunderland, U.K. During my studying in U.K., university was giving the chance of attending a course of a foreign language. There, I was lucky to meet Japanese exchange students and make very good friends. That was the spark to enroll in Japanese language course. Later, I learned about Monbusho scholarship and I applied. The recommendation letter and bases of language got from my Japanese language teacher, helped me to be accepted.

I arrived to Japan on April 1999 and firstly I attended a six-month intensive Japanese language course at Tokyo Gakugei University. The course was very helpful for my life in Japan. It made me capable to communicate with other people and deal with matters in everyday life.

All classmates from many different Asian, European and African countries became very connected. We used to go to places together and make small gatherings and parties in dormitory on our free time. Even after, when each one of us had to go to different Universities, we didn't miss the chance to join together. Learning Japanese was very interesting and it was the most joyful time I spent in Japan . Even it meant hard work, our professors were always willing to spend a lot of their free time with us. We used to visit many places, or going out for food or drink or karaoke, doing everything to make us feel comfortable to our new host country.
gate

Completing the language course, I moved to Gunma University for master's course. All the time I lived in Japan , I was staying in universities' dormitory. I was also receiving a monthly allowance from Monbusho, which was more than enough to have a comfortable life. The first six months in Gunma University , were preparation for admission in master's course, with classes, reports and exams. My field of studying was in hydraulic engineering, dealing with a computer simulation program for fluid motion. I had to spend many hours every day in laboratory for my research. My professor was always very helpful and patient and trying to ease my life and work there. Professor's assistant and my advisor was just a year older than me and we became very good friends. Many times I was invited either for going out or even visiting their homes. Unfortunately I'm not in touch now with my professors or friends. Even many years have passed, I always remember them and the good times we had together.
temple

As for Japan, I'm not sure I can describe what my feelings are. Every moment, every thing was fulfilling. I was feeling everything great. Shape of trees more impressive, flowers of cherries more promising, temples and houses more astonishing, clothing more elegant, people more polite, men more brave, women more beautiful. It hurts knowing that is all over now. The light from the country of the rising sun has already set now from my eyes. Japan will always be in my heart. Sometimes I close my eyes recalling everything from Japan . It all passes in a glimpse, an instant glint. It makes me wonder if it really happened, if it was true. I don't know. Maybe it was just a dream…
festival

 
 
 
 
       

        
        

          

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