By Matthew Tran, Exchange student,

University of Technology, Sydney

Cold. So very cold. That was the first thought that ran through my mind as I landed at Chitose airport on the 28th of March. Coming from Sydney, Australia, it certainly was a change in scenery for me. I'm sure most people have heard of Sydney - it was the host city for the year 2000 Olympics after all. It is the biggest city in Australia, but it isn't the capital city as a lot of people seem to think (that honour goes to Canberra). Famous tourist spots like the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the Centre Point Tower make the greater central city area of Sydney quite scenic. However, Sydney is quite a large sprawling city and unfortunately the suburban areas arenﾕt quite as pretty. And sorry to disappoint everyone, but we don't have kangaroos and koalas running around the streets or in our backyards. They're only seen at zoos or in country areas of Australia.

I'm currently a 5th year student majoring in Design and International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). UTS is different from most other universities in Sydney, mainly because the campus is located almost in the middle of the city. There are various city roads that run between the buildings of UTS and there is virtually no grass or green areas where students can sit around and hang out with their friends. It's not all bad, though. UTS is located right next to various shopping centres and is at most a 10 minute walk from Sydney's Chinatown, which means there's always stuff to do during the breaks in between classes and lots of decent food to eat at lunch (or dinner if you have night classes).

University life at Sapporo University, however, is quite different. For one thing, classes are separated into periods and there are bells that signify the end of every class. That, along with the set lunch time at midday and the lack of night classes, gives Sapporo University much more of a high school like feel to it than what I was used to back in Sydney. Despite this, the general atmosphere at Sapporo University seems a little more relaxed than at UTS. In general, there seems to be fewer exams and assignments at Sapporo University than there were when I was back at UTS. The whole thing about university being the last years of freedom that students have before entering fulltime work seems to ring true.

Settling in to daily life in Sapporo took some time, but it proved a lot easier than I had expected. One of the things that I noticed upon my arrival was that most people didn't speak English - and why would they? This is Japan after all, so it should be expected that those who can speak English would be the minority rather than the majority. However, I found that getting around, shopping and doing other various daily activities, despite my limited Japanese at the time, to be surprisingly easy. The people that I've met here have been really helpful and friendly and have made my whole experience so far all the more enjoyable. Getting used to the weather was a little more difficult, though. In Sydney the weather is generally quite warm, with the minimum temperature in winter being approximately 12C. So you could imagine my shock when I arrived at Chitose to find that the average temperature was 0C. Luckily, I was warned about this and prepared myself adequately. And after a rather short summer, the temperature is starting to get cold again. Honestly, I cannot wait until we get into the full swing of winter as I've never really experienced living in sub-zero conditions for an extended period of time until now.

As a person of Asian decent from Australia, my experiences in Japan have been slightly different from what most other English speaking foreign exchange students have experienced. For one thing, people always assume that I am Japanese and that I can speak fluent Japanese. Very quickly they realise that my level of Japanese is quite basic. And when I tell them that I come from Australia, their next question is usually, "But your parents are Japanese, right?" Being a predominantly mono-cultural society, it's not surprising that I get this sort of reaction. I find it quite amusing actually.

Having to leave all that I was used to in Sydney - my general lifestyle, my family and friends - was quite daunting at first, and for a brief moment before I got here I was having second thoughts about leaving Sydney. How will I survive the cold? What if I can't pick up the language fast enough? What if I don't make any friends? All these thoughts were running through my head. On hindsight, I realise how stupid I was for thinking all of that. I was an average student at Japanese back in Sydney, and before arriving here I didn't have the confidence to speak Japanese at all. However, being surrounded by the language 24 hours a day, 7 days a week has allowed me to pick up the language a lot quicker and has given me much more confidence in using the language than I had received during my two years of study in Sydney.

(*honour=honor, harbour=harbor, centre=center, realise=realize; the left side is British English and the right side is American English.)