Exploring Waseda: A Journey with New Friends
I am Ben, a new exchange student at Waseda University, studying Mathematics at the School of Fundamental Science and Engineering.
As a new student, I was quite unfamiliar with the campus. When I saw this activity, I realized it would be a perfect opportunity to explore the campus and meet new people, making it even better.
Upon arriving at the event, we were separated into teams of 4 to 5 members. After a quick introduction with my teammates, we needed to choose a team name. We decided on “Takoyaki,” as it’s a dish that we all enjoy.
Once we got started, the weather was fantastic, providing ideal conditions for our adventure.
The game’s principle was straightforward: we received a list of places to find on the main Waseda Campus and Toyama Campus within a certain time limit. As proof of our discoveries, we took a group picture in front of each location. This added even more fun to the event, as we always came up with a new pose for each picture.
Some places were easy to find, like the famous statue of Shigenobu Okuma, the university’s founder.
photo by author
However, there were also some tricky spots, such as a small “W” hidden in front of the library. We searched for quite a while to find that one. Harder places were worth more points than easy locations, so the effort was worth it at least!
We would lose 5 points for every minute we arrived late at the ICC lounge. That‘s why we decided to focus on completing all the tasks on the main Waseda Campus rather than heading to Toyama Campus which is further away. In the end, we found 17 locations, and were very happy with the result.
When we returned to the ICC lounge, the results were announced. Unfortunately, we didn‘t earn enough points to win the competition, but we did receive a cool sticker for our participation.
photo by author
After the event, we exchanged Instagram accounts to stay in touch and created a group chat.
I would definitely recommend other students join similar events; it was a fantastic opportunity to make new friends while exploring the campus. It was a lot of fun! Thanks to ICC for organizing it.
