Ricardo S. JIAN
Waseda Business School
After entering Waseda, I was always wondering about joining a circle to fulfill my school life. However, as a foreign student (and graduate school student), it was hard for me to join a traditional Japanese circle in a normal way because I just spoke little Japanese. Also, it was hard for me to get information about circles and other activities during COVID-19 period. As a result, I didn’t succeed in joining a circle during my first year, which was sad. Most of my classmates couldn’t enter Japan due to the COVID-19 situation, so I was always hoping to meet more schoolmates by joining a circle or through other activities. That was why I started to keep an eye on ICC’s events.
ICC is always putting efforts into helping students from different countries to make friends with each other, especially foreign students, to get along with their school life. On 9/25, I participated in the “ICC Circle Fair”, held by ICC to help students, especially foreign students to find an interesting circle. ICC invited many circles which used both English and Japanese to introduce themselves. The event was held online due to the precautions against COVID-19. However, it was also convenient when it came to breakout sessions. Each circle was in a different breakout room, and we could join whichever and whenever we liked. I chose to participate in four circles’ introductions, asked questions about their activities, and finally decided to join two of them.
Now I have circle activities every week with my fellow circle members. It’s a good opportunity for me to meet schoolmates and make new friends. For students who are considering taking part in more activities and meeting new people, or even just want to get some information, it’s a good choice to keep an eye on ICC’s events and choose what you like to participate. Also feel free to go to the ICC lounge (1st floor of Building 3) to get information you want!
This is a photo we took together after our circle activities — Paddy’s Tea Party (photo by author)
