Tuesday 29 January 2013

Haruka's five reasons why life at the University of Tsukuba is the best

  I wrote an essay, not a paragraph. So I'm very sorry for having you read many sentences. I'll be glad if you read it and comment on it.

  I think that I'm in the best stage of my life through living in Tsukuba as a student at the University of Tsukuba, and if just five reason for my thinking are to be given, they would be as follows: the University of Tsukuba's location, the great diversity of people there, chances to make contact with cutting-edge researchers, many unique cafes in Tsukuba, and a close relationship with friends at the university.
Tsukuba City, where the University of Tsukuba is located, is away from Tokyo, which is a central district of Japan. The location helps us to spend free time away from a lot of complex information of other universities and amusement places. It is true that I have no clubs nor attractive shops to go to but it also means I can concentrate on my studies and hobbies (such as practicing the piano and meeting my friends).
  Since the University of Tsukuba has 25 faculties and 8 graduate schools on one campus, it is rich in diversity of people. In addition to being friends with students in the same major, I have made a lot of friends in different majors, such as Biology, Medical Sciences, International Studies, Art and Design, Policy and Planning Sciences. I want to tell you an example of an exciting story of my friend's dream. He has set his mind on majoring business in Policy and Planning Sciences since his high school days, and he is serious about having his own business. It is a business that connects linguistics and computer programming. Doesn't it sound revolutionary and wonderful? His story extremely stimulated my interests toward different majors.
  Thanks to national institutes near the University of Tsukuba, we students here have more chances to make contact with cutting-edge researchers than students at other universities. By chance, in this winter, a teacher in my major introduced a part time job at National Institute of Environmental Studies to me. My work is to edit huge data given by an artificial satellite to make a distribution map of forest resources in the Hokkaido region, which tells the absorption of green house effect gasses there. I find it interesting to gain knowledge and skills from cutting-edge researchers, and to contribute to their research in some way.
  There are a lot of unique café in Tsukuba, which have some special attractive point for people who go there. I got acquainted with a few cafe owners, for example, a man runs his log cabin-style coffee shop, a married couple who started a coffee and bakery shop and works together with their green food van, and a family who has their own roasting facility for beans to sell to individuals or other cafes in Tsukuba and sometimes hold a party with them at the garage. Of course all of them must be particular about their style that is completely different from chain stores (such as Starbucks and Tully's coffee), and that is why a lot of people love to visit there.
  We have opportunities to build close relationships with friends at the University of Tsukuba in many aspects of our life. I heard that 60 percent of freshman live in one of the dormitories on campus, while the others live in an apartment or live with their family within two hours' drive. Even after finishing the first year, most students live in an apartment or a dormitory near the university, including some students who once lived with their family. Such a situation enables us to meet our friends often. They always help me, for example, with our homework and a large scale party with exchange students. Indeed, I was able to build a close relationship with friends at university through a lot of activities.
  For these reasons, I came to like Tsukuba and the University of Tsukuba. However, I believe I still have ways to find more attractive points. I'm thinking of trying to have a short trip to know more about Tsukuba. It will make the rest of my university life here rosy, won't it?


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