BY MAKOTO HASE

Laura Squire came to SU as an exchange student from the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK), on April 5th this year. That day also happened to be her birthday. Nobody celebrated her birthday because she had no friends in Sapporo yet. However, it became a memorable day for her because it was the first day she began her study abroad.

There are major and minor fields of study at American universities. All students select and study courses from these fields. Laura is majoring in International Studies and is minoring in Spanish. The reason she chose International Studies as her major is that she wants to get better at speaking Japanese and she thinks Japanese language is useful for her future career. That is why she decided to come to Japan. She said, "There are many differences between Japan and America. I'm very interested in them. I want to see and experience how people live in Japan." At SU, she belongs to the Foreign Language Department, and attends fifteen classes a week from Monday to Friday; twelve Japanese Language classes, two Japanese Culture classes and Pacific Rim Studies.

Before she came to Japan she had one Japanese class but she said, "I can't speak Japanese, so I was a little nervous." The Japanese class at UNK consists of listening, speaking, reading and writing using the Roman alphabet and Katakana. And yet, already, she can understand some Chinese characters (Kanji) for place names like Sumikawa, Ohdori Park, and some subway station names. Though she speaks only a little Japanese, I can see that she enjoys her daily life because during the interview her answers were lively, and her blue eyes were twinkling.

"I miss my family a little bit, but now I'm excited at my new life," Laura said. Surprisingly, she has no problem with her daily life right now, and she said that everything is alright. Further more, she makes breakfast and supper by herself but mostly eats lunch at Linden Hall.

When asked what kind of things surprised her when she began to live in Sapporo she said, "When I saw people bowing to each other, because I have never seen that before." Bowing it seems is a strange spectacle to her because they do not have a custom like this in America.

"Japanese people always want to help me when they see me because I'm a foreigner and I can't speak Japanese well," she said. She thinks it is a very good thing. When she went shopping soon after she came to Japan, people stared at her. Now she is accustomed to it, but she was surprised then and wondered why people stared at her. It made a great impression on her when she found out later that shoppers stared at her not just out of curiosity, but also because they would like to help her if she needed help. I think it is great that she sees these surprising things as new discoveries.

Nebraska doesn't have oceans or mountains so nature in Hokkaido is very fresh and exciting for her. During the last Golden Week she went to Hakodate with two foreign students from Australia. She said that they saw the sights of Goryokaku-park, churches and other places, and they were moved by the night view from Mt. Hakodate.

Laura said, "I haven't decided what I want to do in my future, yet." She hopes to use this experience as an exchange student. Her stay in Japan is limited, but hopefully she will absorb many things. "If you pass by me, please call out to me in English, Japanese or Spanish," she said. Speaking to her is the best chance to improve our mutual language abilities, and that will surely lead to understanding different cultures. Moreover, it is the first step in promoting friendly relations between Japan and America.