This blog post describes my 10 days Journey attending the culture exchange program of the Yamanashi University in February 2023. At first hesitant, i was not sure, whether i should attend this program, since i would have changed my whole life within a month. In retrospective, i am thankful for getting this opportunity and making such memorable friends and experiences.
My journey does not start from Germany but from Vietnam, where i arrived on the 10. February and would depart on the 14 February to Japan. After the program I would then come back to Vietnam again to finally finish my Diploma thesis remotely while visiting my family and gaining the experience to having once lived in Vietnam.
Yamanashi: Day 9 – Shizuoka, company tour and farewell
On the last day of our trip, and i have to admit, seemingly everyone was feeling the effects of the past few eventful days. Our destination was Shizuoka and we were to be picked up by a bus at our accommodation. To our surprise, our teacher was not the only…
Yamanashi: Day 8 – Oshino Hakkai and Barbecue
As part of the program, we were of course not supposed to enjoy ourselves too much but also needed some educational output, hence today we created posters, which described what we learned and experienced with our tandem partner at Yamanakako. On our way back home, we then passed Oshina Hakkai,…
Yamanashi: Day 7 – Yamanakako
The morning after Karaoke was not as exhausting as expected and the breakfast, provided some welcoming nutritions, albeit not as high in variety as you would expect it from a hotel. Our plan for the day was to visit Lake Yamanakako, located southeast of Kofu City, which would take us…
Yamanashi: Day 6 – Aeon mall and Karaoke
Today was a planned rest day from the Yamanashi culture exchange program. Originally, Sorn, Joram and i planned a spontaneous one day ski trip at a nearby area, however unfortunately the forecast predicted a rainy morning, which is why we chose to plan an alternative activity with the girls. Our…
Yamanashi: Day 5 – Furoshiki and Okonomiyaki
Saturday. Officially we would have had classes, however we needed the time for organizational matters especially concerning the upcoming days to form groups, assigning local students and managing hotel room. Joram, Sorn and i formed the group Flying Fish, while the girls containing Celine, Pam, Antonia and Maria formed the…
Yamanashi: Day 4 – Calligraphy and Kofu station
Today classes started at 10 am again and our lectures was discussing about what our interests are and what we would do in our spare time. In the afternoon calligraphy classes were introduced to us, instead of the previously planned wagashi (candy) making. Calligraphy in general was already hard, but…
Yamanashi: Day 3 – Winery Tour and Izakaya
Today, our class started in the dormitory due to an emergency meeting that our teacher had to attend at 10:50. Our class started at 9 am and ended at 10:30 am after which we hung out in our accommodation until we had to move out and meet up again at…
Yamanashi: Day 2 – Campus Tour
For the time period of the exchange program our teacher would stay at the same accomodation as we did. So we all started our first day together by walking to the university. When we arrived, we had to clear some organizational procedures before we could receive the scholarship of 80,000…
Yamanashi: Day 1 – A Wild Trip
The whole day was a mess and to start it off, even before i arrived in Japan troubles started in Vietnam already. At first arriving at Terminal 1 in Hanoi we realized, that that one is for domestic flights exclusively. Finally arriving at Terminal 2, manual check-in is required and…