Information
Student Voice: Kevin Trieste, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès
Kevin Trieste is participating in the Winter Program between his first and second semesters at AIU.
Academic Experience
I am in a Master’s Degree program and my degree has a triple focus in International Trade, Japanese, and English, so I am taking mostly Japanese language classes at AIU. I had to extend my degree at home to be able to study abroad for a year, but it was well worth it for the language studies.
During the Fall Semester, I placed into Japanese 206, which was not a high enough level to take the skill-based classes, but I am taking Japanese 300 over the Winter Program, so during the Spring Semester I will qualify for the higher level skill courses.
I like the class system here with the various levels of language. At home, we have only one level of Japanese and you keep taking the same class until you pass. Here, I am in a level that pushes me, so I am improving quickly, especially with my grammar, but at the same time, it is not impossible to keep up. I also like that at AIU you have to attend every day and class participation counts. With language study, you have to practice every day.
Campus Community
I really enjoy the community here at AIU. From the very beginning, during orientation and the school-wide matriculation ceremony, there is a sense of belonging to a group. I have enjoyed participating in all of the university activities, like the AIU Festival and Dance Virus. This has been the first time for me to experience having a common identity with the other students at a university.
Extracurricular Activities
My schedule at AIU is less intense than my Master’s program at home, so I have had time to get involved in activities and clubs. I researched the clubs available at AIU before I came, so I knew from the beginning which ones I wanted to join.
I had played volleyball at my home university, so I joined that club here, too, but I was really excited to join the Hip Hop Dance Team and A Cappella Club, because I’ve never had the opportunity to participate in anything like that before.
Hip Hop Dance
We had 15 members during the fall semester, including 6 international students, and our practices were a mix of English and Japanese. Usually, the team leader would start in Japanese and then translate into English if we needed it.
We practiced twice each week for an hour, learning the choreography for our next performance. After all the semester performances were over, we started learning different moves that we could use in the future.
A Cappella Club
We met met once at the start of the semester for the new incoming students to constitute bands, and then each band would then practice on their own. The new bands (like mine, “Gaijin Style”) would also receive help from Japanese students (namely, Mushiyaki Sawako and Tokiyoshi Mayu, Spring 2015 freshmen) for the first few practices. Then, the whole club would meet from time to time for gatherings.
During the Winter Program, we had a “shuffle band” project to mix up the groups, and I was in a band with 5 Japanese students. I was actually the only international student to take part in the project, which consisted of mixing members of the club regardless of their nationality so that everyone gets to know each other better. With A Cappella being a group-based club, it’s not as easy to get to know everyone as it is with for example the Volleyball club or the Hip-Hop dance team. I really had lots of fun joining this project, and we’re actually considering becoming a permanent band follow our last Winter performance.
Message to Future Students
Engage in university life! I hear some students complain that they get bored here, but it’s only because they are not getting involved. AIU is a little isolated, but you can easily stay busy here and you’ll never get bored or homesick.
Kevin Trieste is participating in the Winter Program between his first and second semesters at AIU.
Academic Experience
I am in a Master’s Degree program and my degree has a triple focus in International Trade, Japanese, and English, so I am taking mostly Japanese language classes at AIU. I had to extend my degree at home to be able to study abroad for a year, but it was well worth it for the language studies.
During the Fall Semester, I placed into Japanese 206, which was not a high enough level to take the skill-based classes, but I am taking Japanese 300 over the Winter Program, so during the Spring Semester I will qualify for the higher level skill courses.
I like the class system here with the various levels of language. At home, we have only one level of Japanese and you keep taking the same class until you pass. Here, I am in a level that pushes me, so I am improving quickly, especially with my grammar, but at the same time, it is not impossible to keep up. I also like that at AIU you have to attend every day and class participation counts. With language study, you have to practice every day.
Campus Community
I really enjoy the community here at AIU. From the very beginning, during orientation and the school-wide matriculation ceremony, there is a sense of belonging to a group. I have enjoyed participating in all of the university activities, like the AIU Festival and Dance Virus. This has been the first time for me to experience having a common identity with the other students at a university.
Extracurricular Activities
My schedule at AIU is less intense than my Master’s program at home, so I have had time to get involved in activities and clubs. I researched the clubs available at AIU before I came, so I knew from the beginning which ones I wanted to join.
I had played volleyball at my home university, so I joined that club here, too, but I was really excited to join the Hip Hop Dance Team and A Cappella Club, because I’ve never had the opportunity to participate in anything like that before.
Hip Hop Dance
We had 15 members during the fall semester, including 6 international students, and our practices were a mix of English and Japanese. Usually, the team leader would start in Japanese and then translate into English if we needed it.
We practiced twice each week for an hour, learning the choreography for our next performance. After all the semester performances were over, we started learning different moves that we could use in the future.
A Cappella Club
We met met once at the start of the semester for the new incoming students to constitute bands, and then each band would then practice on their own. The new bands (like mine, “Gaijin Style”) would also receive help from Japanese students (namely, Mushiyaki Sawako and Tokiyoshi Mayu, Spring 2015 freshmen) for the first few practices. Then, the whole club would meet from time to time for gatherings.
During the Winter Program, we had a “shuffle band” project to mix up the groups, and I was in a band with 5 Japanese students. I was actually the only international student to take part in the project, which consisted of mixing members of the club regardless of their nationality so that everyone gets to know each other better. With A Cappella being a group-based club, it’s not as easy to get to know everyone as it is with for example the Volleyball club or the Hip-Hop dance team. I really had lots of fun joining this project, and we’re actually considering becoming a permanent band follow our last Winter performance.
Message to Future Students
Engage in university life! I hear some students complain that they get bored here, but it’s only because they are not getting involved. AIU is a little isolated, but you can easily stay busy here and you’ll never get bored or homesick.