{"id":10253,"date":"2019-09-26T19:36:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/?p=10253"},"modified":"2024-11-19T16:18:04","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T07:18:04","slug":"ssl-graduation-report-2019-thais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/news-en\/2019\/09\/26\/10253\/","title":{"rendered":"A home away from home\u3000ICC Student Staff Graduation Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
FAVERO SOUZA, Thais
\n<\/span>Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies
\n<\/span>ICC Student Staff Leader:
\n<\/span>Dec 2013 \u2013 July 2019<\/span><\/h6>\n

When I arrived at Waseda back in 2013, I was somewhat lost. I had just started as a research student at the Graduate School of Law, and I was stressed over improving my Japanese so I could brave the challenging graduate school lessons and materials I had to study. I was also overwhelmed with living alone, away from all of my family and friends, and having to provide for myself long-term.<\/p>\n

It was then, when I was looking for a path to follow, that I found the ICC. A friend from my dorm introduced it to me, and I knew that I had to try out for the job. Even after failing my first application, I didn\u2019t want to give up and applied again as soon as I could. The second time, I got hired as a student staffer and started my ICC journey.<\/p>\n

That was December 2013, and after that I went on to spend an amazing 6 years at the office. In addition to learning how to work in a Japanese office environment, I was able to make events related to my home country of Brazil and to many other topics I am interested in, such as manga, K-pop and gender equality. I could also be part of my coworkers incredibly varied events and supporting them from the planning stage to the actual execution. Seeing their accomplishments, especially after successfully completing their first projects, always made me feel extremely proud.<\/p>\n

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(ICC photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

However, to me the most memorable thing about this job was being able to help other students and to create a safe place where they could challenge themselves, step out of their comfort zone and expand their views of the world. Every time a new person stepped into our lounge, I wanted to make them feel like they could count on us to make their student life rich and interesting, and to grow as a person by understanding and interacting with others. Through this cultural exchange, I hoped every single participant would think that it was worth listening and talking to new people and understanding each other\u2019s differences. And every time I heard a \u201cthank you\u201d from an event participant, I was incredibly happy to have played even a small positive part in that person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\t\t