By Natsuko Ito

I studied abroad at the University Courage of Cariboo (UCC) in Kamloops, Canada for about a year from September, 2004 on a scholarship from Sapporo University and UCC.

Kamloops, which is located in British Columbia on the Pacific coast, has over 80,000 people and is the sister city of Uji, Kyoto. It is a dry area and one of the hottest cities in Canada in summer. Kamloops is famous for Sun Peaks Resort and many skiers come there from all over the world in winter.

The University Courage of Cariboo has changed its name to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and expanded in scale this April. There are over 9,000 students and more than 100 programs. It also accepts international students. There are over 750 students from 59 countries studying there. Sports club activities are vigorous; the menﾕs basket team won first place and the menﾕs volleyball team got third place in all of Canada this season.

There are a lot of facilities at the university. For instance, cafes like Starbucks Coffee and Tim Hortons, which is a caf� only in Canada. Similarly, there is a nice cafeteria where the Culinary Art Departmentﾕs students cook and we can eat good meals at a cheaper price. Also, TRU has other cafeterias and one of them is also a bar at night. There are also some dormitories.

I lived in a dormitory on campus. Each student has their own bedroom and shares a bathroom with three other students. In the dormitory, however, we have to cook our own meals because there is no cafeteria in the dorm. Whenever we go grocery shopping it is kind of hard since most things are sold in huge sizes and we rarely have cars. I had two Canadian and one Chinese roommates. We did not have any trouble because we made some rules for our cleaning routine and things like that. I sometimes asked my roommates about my assignments and had supper with them. My dorm had interesting parties for events like Halloween, Christmas, barbeque parties and movie nights.

In addition to that, there is an organization called "OMEGA" which is a newspaper club just like "Youth Forum News" in Sapporo University. It has its own building. They publish 1,500 papers every week and write about the university news, local information, and many other topics. It is a full-dress newspaper with color and some advertisements. We can get it free anywhere on campus. I got a chance to write an article for the OMEGA. I wrote an article about interviewing some students who took Japanese class. I wrote it with Kiyomi Nagasawa, who also got a scholarship from Sapporo University. Also, there is a community FM radio station on campus. Students and people who live in Kamloops have their own programs which are played in Kamloops and all over the world by internet radio. I had my own program and played Japanese pop music every week for an hour.

Classes start from 8:00 am and finish at 9:00 pm at night. Classes are 50 minutes long and students can make their own schedule with the help of the academic advisersﾕ counsel. There is no set lunch time, so students take a break after each class or make time when they do not have class.

Whenever I attended my classes I was surprised about the studentsﾕ attitude. Everyone raised their hand and voiced their opinions or asked questions. Sometimes, even though the teacher was still talking, they did not put their hand down until the teacher called on them. Few people came to the class late, were absent, or slept in the class. Everyone studied very hard. The textbooks were so thick and we had lots of reading homework. We could always see many people studying in the library, cafeterias, or outside on the grass. Many students earn money during their long vacation and study hard in school. Therefore, we cannot compare Canadian studentsﾕ busy study habits with Japanese students.

I took classes for four to six hours everyday. Every class had its own feel to it. For example, we sometimes had a chance to talk about a topic in Human Geography class. One group had about eight people. I was always so uncomfortable about my speaking ability that I could not talk and stay focused. In my journalism class, we talked about topics that were based on student presentations. I could only listen, but from my classmates I was impressed that they had their own opinions. I was always overpowered by the lessons. However, I got a high mark in Canadian studies. When I made a presentation about Canadian sports with a classmate from Norway, we talked about the topic and its history using PowerPoint and prepared some brochures which were not covered by any classmates. I remember that I sometimes just stayed in my room doing lots of homework, like reading or preparing for a presentation. Also, I studied until early morning for exams with my classmates.

Everything was new for me in Canada. There were many kinds of students at my university who came from overseas, had families, were working or were retired. I learned that communication was fun from them. Everyone listened to my poor English until they understood me and talked to me of their experience. Everyone was so friendly. It was great to talk to them even though I was ashamed of my scanty English skills. My knowledge and my world expanded from that experience.

Finally, I met Joe Dobson who taught at Sapporo University as a part-time teacher. He is a Japanese instructor in TRU now. I was really interested in teaching Japanese and joined his class. I never met him in Sapporo, but, he was really kind and he gave me a chance to write the article for the OMEGA and he helped me during my year in Canada. I would like to say thank you to him by this article.

Kamloops and UCC/TRU where I spent my year is not big compared with other North American cities and universities. However, there were warm people there. I would like to go back to Kamloops to meet them again. I have decided that I will study hard in Sapporo University using these important experiences.