A WC-J alumnus, Alvaro Mazorra(’11), joined in the Dutch alumni to present the World Campus – Japan program and shared his experience in Japan to the interested students in the University of Leiden. We look forward to having many Dutch students in the 2012 program.

WC-J Dutch alumni, Frank Floris(’10,) Xiaoxing Feng(’10,) Iris Spruit(’11,) Daniel van Delft(’11,) Jurrien Theunysz(’11) presented their World Campus – Japan experiences to the interested students at the World Campus – Japan 2012 presentations in the University of Leiden.

WC-J alumni, Christian Damgaard(’08) and Nina Moller(’11) joined the CEO, Hiro Nishimura to present the World Campus – Japan Program to the interested students in the University of Roskilde. The presentation was very interactive with many good questions.

World Campus – Japan presentation was held at the University of Copenhagen. Nina Moller, an alumna from 2011 summer program spoke about her WC-J experience to the interested students. A Copenhagen area alumni gathering was held after the presentation.

World Campus – Japan program presentation was held at The Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall, Sweden and CEO, Hiro Nishimura explained the program in detail to the curious and motivated students. We would like to thank Leif Hemmingsson and Kristina Brink (Mid Sweden University) for inviting us to Sundsvall.

World Campus – Japan program presentation was held at “St. Olav videregående skole” in Sarpsborg, Norway. And our alumnus, Joakim Gåsøy(’11) from Sarpsborg shared his experience from his time in Japan to his fellow students in the school.

World Campus – Japan alumni, Henning Rodtwitt(’08 & ’09,) Amanda Roland(’09,) Torunn Olsen(’11,) Ola Johannessen(’11,) Alexandra Kristinnsdottir(’11,) and Vegard Ovland(’11) held presentations at the University of Oslo and the Oslo Handelsgym. They presented the upcoming program and shared their experiences to over 30 Norwegian students.

World Campus – Japan alumni, Henning Rodtwitt(’08 & ’09) and Vegard Ovland(’11) and CEO, Hiro Nishimura visited Ringebu Folkehøyskole where Maria Sørlid(’11) currently studies, and facilitated a program presentation. Nearly 30 interested students attended the presentation.

World Campus – Japan 2012 Program presentation was held at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu, Finland on November 3. We thank Professor Terttu Rajala, the lecturer of Japanese language and culture for inviting us to the university.

The day before we had to leave our host families in Suita, Oosaka, we were invited to cook some of the greatest dishes from Japan in the city hall of Yameda. We made Takoyaki (small flour balls of octopus with a coat of read ginger and vegetables), Yaki Soba (fried vegetables and lovely noodles), Ichigo daifuku (delicious small strawberries with a coat of sweet beans, and on top of that yet another layer of some kind of gummish rice-thing). We also made this international edition of maki rolls, a kind of rolled sushi (maki-Makeru means to roll in Japanese). The inside contains fresh fish and vegetables rolled in rice and seaweed.

The funny thing about making these dishes was that they all were a lot different to us in a lot of ways. I had never seen a Japanese person make maki rolls with boiled vegetables and tuna. It gave me new inspiration because it is very different from the way I learned to make sushi in Denmark.

It was also really great to get the opportunity to make Takoyaki, because it famous in the Kansai area, and a lot of the group members where crazy about them. In my case, it was fun because my host family owned two popular Takoyaki shops, and after this course, I was able to help them in the shop.

My favourite dish was probably the Ichigo daifuku, because it had such a fun texture (it was softer than wine gum, and still tougher) and because it contained my favourite fruit, a yummy red strawberry. The inside red strawberry even measured up with the strawberries from Denmark, which Danes are very proud of.

After my trip home from Japan, I began to make Japanese food the way I was taught by my host families and the course, and everyone really loves it in Denmark. I would never have discovered these dishes without the World Campus Programs, and I will always appreciate that I had the opportunity to learn it in Japan.

(Nina Møller, Denmark)

After we experienced kamishibai, we went to the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. There they had an exhibition of a famous painter from Holland, named Johannes Vermeer. His paintings are very elegant and realistic. We had a wonderful afternoon enjoying and appreciating every painting there.

On 8^th August, my host sister took me to Nagashima Spa Land, an amusement park that has the longest roller coaster in Japan. And my host sister and I are both crazy-loving ride on roller coaster! So, we rode every roller coaster as much as possible. There are totally seven roller coasters, we rode not only once but also twice for a tallest roller coaster. It was very exciting for me to have such a great experience in Japan. In Taiwan, we don’t have these kinds of roller coasters. It was really impressive and a lot of fun. We really had a wonderful time there.

(“Umi” Yi-Ting Cheng from Taiwan)

Here in Leiden (the Netherlands) we had an introducion week for the upcoming first year students. This included visiting the student clubs around town. One of the clubs called Duivelsei, of which Frank (Another Worldwide Rep of WCI) is a member, threw an Asian style party on one of the nights. Jurrien (a participants I traveled with during WCI 2011 summer programs) and I, as students majoring in Japanese, just had to go there! There was sushi, sake, karaoke, DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and even a sumo-wrestling-suit game to enjoy. This attracted a fair amount of people, including some upcoming first year Japanese major students. After we had a couple of beers, we decided to just talk to them and get to know them a little bit.

We ended up having some long conversations about our interests, our studies and, of course, our holidays. This was where Jurrien and I were able to tell them about our experiences with World Campus International and the staff and members. Our stories about getting dirty in rice fields, meeting an insane amount of people, the food, getting good friends from all over the world, experiencing the culture from the inside due to staying in host families, being able learning a lot (more than just the Japanese language) and about Japan’s advanced toilet technology made a really good impression.

For most of these students visiting Japan is a dream and I could see that our stories made them even more excited.

We had a lot of fun and I think some might consider joining World Campus Japan next year!

(Daniel Van Delft – The Netherlands)

We started off by writing calligraphy kanji characters, mostly positive characters like; Love, Dream, Hope ect. It was a great chance to learn calligraphy but also to help the members. Because some of them were in wheelchairs or slightly disabled we helped them write the calligraphy by placing our hands over theirs and writing with them. It was a very powerful moment for the group of us.

I think we originally planned on visiting the home and giving, serving, and impacting the community members but didn’t realize how much they would teach and impact us. When we said our goodbyes and it was very difficult for us, one of the women in a wheelchair probably in her mind 90’s took my hands and started to speak Japanese she then soon begin to cry at that moment language was no longer needed and I felt her embrace and energy and I know what she was saying was from the heart and she cared very much about the words she was saying even though she probably knew I didn’t understand. Luckily when she was speaking there was someone behind me that translated what she said. One of the things she mentioned was “Thank you so much for visiting us and spending you time with us all and I’m happy to have lived this long so I could meet you on this day.” It was a wonderful experience and its great to think that at age 90 people are still able to inspire and impact in this world!

(Brandon Serna – External Relations Manager for Summer ‘11 Road Team)