By Scott Fuller, ’95
Director of international student services
Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2003
As I negotiate the busy, urban streets winding through the main campus of
Waseda University in Tokyo,
Japan, I realize that the glossy brochures I’m
holding — resplendent
with pictures of flowering trees, open spaces, and an easy-to-follow map — have
given me the impression that this campus is similar to Lawrence or other larger
campuses I am familiar with in the United States. In the hotel that morning,
I had imagined the taxi dropping us off at the edge of campus so that I could
enjoy a leisurely stroll to the Center for International Education, taking
in the pleasant collegiate atmosphere. The Waseda campus, however, is tucked
tightly into a densely populated section of one of the world’s most populous
cities, and I am confounded by the maze.
The map I am attempting to follow shows all of the university buildings, but it neglects to show the many small restaurants, shops, and apartments that also line the congested streets and abut many of the academic and administrative buildings.
I have come here to help conduct an orientation session for 14 Waseda students who will be at Lawrence this fall, participating in a special English language and liberal arts program. We have just completed the 2002-03 academic year, which was the inaugural year of the Waseda program, officially known as the Collaborative Education in Study Abroad (CESA) program. My partner this morning is Cecile Despres-Berry, Lawrence’s Waseda program director and ESL instructor. The orientation session is intended to introduce the new batch of Japanese students to the staff with whom they will work most closely and for us to clearly define for them the structure and expectations of the program.
I hope that our introduction — our map — will prepare them better for Lawrence than the map I attempted to follow prepared me for Waseda.
I am also traveling with the American roommates of last year’s Waseda students, though this morning they are in another part of the city visiting museums. These students each volunteered to live with a Waseda student, with only the vaguest idea of what the experience would hold. They proved to be as important to the program as the carefully structured coursework Lawrence had created. After all, where can the Japanese students experience more American society, in the American Society class they must take or with their student hosts? Who will they remember most, the professors and administrators they see a couple of times a week or the peers with whom they share rooms?
As I prepare for the orientation session, I consider the importance of the roommate relationship to the Japanese students. I wonder what their fears are about coming to Appleton and moving into a residence hall with someone they have never met and who speaks no Japanese, especially since Waseda has no residence halls and Waseda students must find their own places to live. Some live with parents or family, some rent rooms with other students, and others commute on the train from as far as two hours away. What about the American students? What prompted them to volunteer and how will it affect their academic and social routines?
Lawrence has an exceptionally well-trained and capable residential life staff, made up of both professionals and students, to help facilitate the joys and challenges of living in a residence hall. We also have many years of experience with international students, and we support their special needs in cultural adjustment.
Still, because of the unique characteristics of these students and this program, I have to consider the special challenges they will face and wonder what surprises they will encounter. I realize that small, slow Appleton could be as disorientating to them as crowded, overwhelming Tokyo is to me — so, what I can say to prepare them for this important aspect of their year at Lawrence? I also wonder if we have learned any important lessons from the roommate relationships that didn’t work last year. After all, by the end of the first year, only 12 of the original 19 pairings were still sharing a room.
Thinking back to the farewell ceremony for last year’s Waseda students provides answers to some of my questions. Students, faculty, and staff attended the ceremony on the Sunday before finals week. We handed out certificates, presented a gift from the Alumni Office, and heard speeches from President Warch, roommates, and Japanese participants.
The American students described incidences where miscommunication or no communication prevailed, such as the following exchange on the evening of the Waseda contingent’s arrival: American roommate asks, “Are you excited to be at Lawrence?” Japanese roommate responds by smiling and nodding his head affirmatively. American roommate then asks, “How was the flight?” Japanese student responds by smiling and nodding his head affirmatively.
For their part, the Japanese participants thanked the professors for patiently guiding them through Lawrence-style discussion-based classes, even though they were at first unaccustomed to and uncomfortable with speaking in class. One speaker remembered being amazed at just how much student input there is in our classes, and he fondly recounted a discussion in the ESL course that somehow circled its way around to UFOs.
The farewell speeches made it clear that, at the beginning of their year together, both the American and Japanese students felt a little lost, the way I did walking around Waseda. That morning, I was bewildered and felt as if the map didn’t quite make sense. However, after I had walked and observed, taken wrong turns, and asked questions, I finally succeeded in reaching my destination. What I learned that day was that the map was not wrong; my preconceptions were wrong. What I learned in that walk couldn’t have been gained from a book or by someone else describing it to me. It came from determination and exploration. By asking questions and making mistakes, I was able to overcome frustration and unfamiliarity.
Waseda students at Lawrence must make a similar journey, albeit a much larger one. Theirs are lessons that are learned one step at a time and over the entire year. As anyone who has moved to a new culture can attest, the learning comes slowly, but the rewards are profound.
At the end of the orientation session, after Ms. Despres-Berry has explained the academic structure of the year and the mysteries of course registration, I set forth the practical information about when to arrive, applying for a student visa, and obtaining health insurance. I then ask if any of them know which residence hall they will be living in (by this time in June, some students already have been assigned a room and roommate). I ask the students who know where they’ll be living if they have had any contact with their future roommates. All of them have. I ask if they are excited or nervous to be moving so far from home and into a small room in a small American city with someone they’ve never met. They all say that they are excited and that, based on their e-mail correspondence, their roommate seems nice. What else could they say?
They have the right attitude, though. I can imagine them standing on the cusp of the Lawrence campus, map in hand and ready to find their way to their new home. They are courageous, stepping out of the routine, challenging their preconceptions, and jumping into this experience feet-first, not knowing exactly what to expect or exactly what they will learn. They are going to ask questions and persevere and learn things they could never learn by staying at home.
Sidebar: 1,000 paper cranes