BY Akiko Nakagawa

Three exchange students from SU's sister university, the university of Nebraska at Kearney, are studying at our campus this year again. Sapporo University entered into cooperation with UNK on August 10, 1983, and started to send and accept exchange students from the next year. We have accepted 31 exchange students from UNK up to this year. Eighty-two students have visited UNK from SU so far, and it has been decided that 4 students will be sent to UNK this summer. Christopher Kort, Andres Traslavina and Yvette Peterson came to Sapporo in this April. We interviewed them on May 31.

They study in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, and study Japanese language and Japanese culture. They say that it's fun to learn a different culture and to live in Sapporo. They said that Sapporo is large and clean, public transportation is convenient, and there are many stores. I could gather from their looks that they enjoy staying in Sapporo.

Chris's major is agriculture, Andres' is business, and Yvette's is international study. The reasons why they came to Japan are different from each other. Chris' parents' house is a farm, so he will inherit it in the future. To learn about Japan's agriculture is one of his reasons. Andres, who was born in Colombia, is interested in Japanese culture, and he thinks that his Japanese ability can be useful in the future. And Yvette likes to travel abroad. She has also been to Egypt. She is interested in every country's culture, so she came to Japan this time.

When I asked them what was difficult about the Japanese language, Chris said, "One word changes its meaning by its pronunciation. For example, 'hashi' (bridge) and 'hashi' (chopsticks), 'kumo' (spider) and 'kumo' (cloud)." Andres told us that he could understand basic words, but he becomes confused when someone speaks words he doesn't know. In the end what he could rely on is only gestures. Chris and Andres took Japanese lessons in UNK, so they can speak and write basic Japanese, but Yvette didn't study Japanese at all, so she has more trouble than Chris and Andres in speaking Japanese.

I asked them whether there was some differences between American students and Japanese students. Chris said, "Japanese students study harder than Americans," and Yvette said, "I think Japanese students are very polite. I thought so when I saw students sitting and waiting for a teacher for a physical education class." They know there are other cultural differences, so they are not surprised by Japanese behavior.

After school, they usually send e-mail in the computer room and enjoy clubs. Chris belongs to the Rifle club, the Aikido club and the Kung fu club. He joins clubs that he is interested in. He said, "In Japan, it is normal to belong to only one club, but in America it is normal to belong to two or three clubs." I admired his stamina. Andres belongs to the tennis club and Yvette belongs to the Yosakoi-soran team.

They will stay in Sapporo until this December. They say that they would like to travel in Japan as much as possible. While talking with them, I could feel their human warmth and naivete that cannot be felt in a big city. I want them to learn much more about Japan from now on.