By Susie
School of International Liberal Studies
Hi everyone!
I am a first-year SILS student from the UK. I was really hoping to be able to get to Japan before the start of my first semester but unfortunately this was not the case. Being over 5000 miles away from Tokyo I thought I would find it quite hard to feel connected to Waseda outside of studying – but this is where English Chat Club (ECC) came in!
ECC is a weekly club where students from all over Waseda come together to have a chat & play some games in English! Everyone is split into little groups so you can get to know each other more easily, and as a Supporter my role was to lead my group in the games & facilitate conversation. I was a little worried about being able to communicate with other participants as my Japanese language skills are still very much beginner-level, but this wasn’t a barrier whatsoever! We played games like bingo & 2 truths & one lie, but my favourites were Pictionary (I have hilariously terrible drawing skills!) and the Waseda quizzes – I got to learn all sorts about Waseda that I didn’t know before!
Because of the 9-hour time difference, on ECC days I had to get up at 4am. Despite being super tired, I found myself really looking forward to ECC and getting to see people again – it was my highlight of the week!
I decided to sign up as a Supporter as a way to get to know other students, but I didn’t realise how much fun I would have and how glad I’d be that I did. The thing I associate most with ECC is smiling & laughing! Overall it was a really lovely break from studying and has really helped me feel connected to Waseda & Tokyo despite being so far away! I would highly recommend it to anyone as a way to get to know people and have a bit of fun – I plan to take part again next semester, hopefully this time from Tokyo!!
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