「Circle (Non-Sports)」カテゴリーアーカイブ

ジェシカ・ローファー：DESA

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こんにちは。ジェシカ・ローファーと申します。今学期、同志社大学のDESAというサークルに参加しています。DESAというのは Doshisha Exchange Student Associationです。交流会のサークルです。私は国際関係を専攻しているので、CIPを選んだ時、色んな違う経験がある人とその経験について話し合いたかったです。だから、DESAに入るのを決めました。

DESAに参加する人は他のKCJSの学生、他のプログラムからの留学生と同志社大学と京都大学の学生です。DESAは飲み会とかハイキングとかスキー旅行などの行事が色々あります。今は同志社と京都大学の春休みだので、DESAに参加している日本人が少し少なくなりました。でも、日本人が少ないからといって日本語を練習できない訳ではなくて、行事に来る人の数が小なくても、行事で参加日本人と留学生はほとんど同じ数です。

DESAの雰囲気はカジュアルな雰囲気だから、くだけたな日本語で話せます。日本人とはじめて会った時に、日本とアメリカのちがうことについて話し合いました。例えば、大学の違うことやマーナーの違うことについて話しました。最近、私の分かる日本語がだんだん多くなってきたので、もっと複雑なトピックについて話せるようになりました。

たくさん新しい関係を確立しているので、うれしいくなりました。皆は面白い経験があるから、他の人の経験を聞いて自分の経験をはっきり伝えるために日本語をもっとぺらぺら話したいです。

イェジン・コ：社交ダンスと書道

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私のCIPは京大アマチュアダンスクラブという社交ダンスクラブです。クラブの部員は、ほとんど京都大学の学生で、二十人ぐらいいます。先生も京大の学生で、各練習で二つのダンスを教えます。例えば、ワルツ、タンゴ、クイックステップ、ルンバ、チャチャチャ、サンバなどです。練習は、毎週土曜日十時から十一時までです。みんな大学生からダンスを始めた人ばかりだと聞いたけど、本当にプロみたいです。みんなは、とてもやさしくて、色々なことを教えてもらって、お世話になっています。そして、みんな仲が良くて、一緒に練習の後にご飯を食べに行き、話し合います。

二つ目のCIPは、京都大学書道部です。書道部は百人以上いて、毎週水曜日に活動があって、毎月に一回で講師の先生が教えます。書道部の部室は、紙や墨、書道関係の本、冷蔵庫まであります。みんな自分で自由に書きます。春休みと夏休みには２泊３日程度で合宿に行きます。そして、毎年初夏と秋季の2回の学外展を行っています。みんなは、書道が上手だし、とてもやさしいし、アットホームな雰囲気のサークルです。

カルム・ガルト：同志社の交流会DESA

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今学期、日本人の学生は休み中なので、先学期のCIPを続けることができなくなったことをきっかけに新しいCIPを探すことにした。先学期、友達が「DESA]という同志社の交流会サークルに参加していたので、僕も参加しようと思った。

DESAを通して、毎週ぐらい日本人の学生と他の留学生と一緒に飲み会や山登りやゲーム会などの楽しい活動をする。新しい日本人の友達に出会えるので、DESAに入ってよかったと思っている。

今まで一番楽しかった経験は夜に大文字山に登ったことだ。９時ぐらいに登ったので、山は真っ暗だった。銀閣寺は大文字山の下にあるので、皆はそこで集合してから、登り始めた。フラシュライトは少なかったし、森で動物の目が輝くのをたまに見たし、ちょっと怖かったけど、皆がいたので勇気を持って登り続けた。頂上に着いたら、京都の美しい夜景が目に入った。皆がお酒を持って来たので、乾杯してから夜景を見ながらワイワイ話した。頂上からの京都の夜景は感動的だ。あれを友達と一緒に見たのは本当に最高の経験だった。日本を出ても、その夜を絶対に忘れないと思う。

これから、DESAのメンバー達と一緒にこのような楽しいことを経験と思う。

 

アストリッド・ブラウン：DESA

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今学期、私はCIPでDESAというサークルに入りました。 DESAは「Doshisha Exchange Student Association」の略語で、日本語で「同志社大学国際交流サークル」というサークルです。DESAの目標は同志社に留学している学生との交流を行って、京都を案内することです。他の京都の大学とKCJSと他の留学プログラムの学生が参加できますから、いろいろな人と会う機会ができます。

DESAの普通の会議は月一回で、将来のイベントについて話します。会議で、イベントのアイデアについて話し合って、イベントの担当メンバーを決めます。でも、今は春休みだから、二月は会議がありません。イベントはたいてい京都観光や飲み会で、時々もっと大きいイベントもあります。例えば、最近DESAはスキーのために、琵琶湖に行きました。DESAのイベントでいろいろな人がたくさんいるから、いつも楽しいです。

DESAのメンバーはたいてい外国に興味がある日本人ですが、英語はあまり話せません。でも、みんなは外国人と友だちになりたがっているので、とても友好的な人々だと思います。このサークルを通じて、私は日本人と他の留学生の友だちができて嬉しいです。次の二ヶ月を楽しみにしています！

Aaron Browning: EMBG (Light Music Circle)

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EMBG stands for Eastern Mountain Boys and Girls, just one of the many groups known as karui music circles (lit. ‘light,’ meaning amateur, or recreational) that gather weekly at the Kyoto University campus. Ever since I applied for KCJS I had wanted to do something of this sort, because I was interested in experiencing a young people’s rock and roll culture in Japan. After searching for a few weeks to find a circle that would allow me to participate, a friend managed to talk to a member of an associated Kyoto University karui music circle, which eventually resulted in me and Jerome (my classmate, friend, and partner in rock and roll) being graciously allowed to join.

The presence of these types of clubs at Japanese universities is a really great thing, and although my home institution is quite small (around 1,500 undergraduates), I imagine that similar organizations are quite rare even within large American universities. It has been neat not only to be a part of something fun and entertaining, but also to encounter a new type of club that I had previously been unfamiliar with. However, what has struck me the most is all about the quantity of these types of groups and the members within them, accounting for a truly robust group of circles focusing on the recreational act of forming various bands with friends and rocking out in a variety of genres.

The circles at Kyoto University all meet at a typical classroom building known as yon-kyou, which is transformed in the early evenings of meeting days from a building of classrooms to a building of practice and performance rooms. When approaching the heart of the campus, one can hear the muffled fuzz and rumble of instruments collectively sounding from various rooms in the building. Vast lines of bicycles all but cover the ground of the building’s large concrete lot. As the sun sets, cycling students gradually pour in, and after all the equipment has been loaded into each club’s assigned meeting space (usually gear transported from a rented storing space and unloaded from the back of a club van), the activities commence. At any given time, there might be sound emanating from the building’s brick walls as a few groups of people chat outside the entrance. It is apparent that this place, much like the local venues and bars in American cities, is more than a simply a place to play music or listen to music. It is a place to relax, hang out with friends, and bond over music as a common activity.

The atmosphere at EMBG has been welcoming and relaxed. While by no means disorganized or uncoordinated, EMBG is quite flexible in its scheduling and sessions, I have found. More or less, the most important part of these meetings is simply showing up. Members see each other, they unload gear together, they chat with each other, they listen and play music together. Depending on whether or not there is a specific band scheduled to perform for the rest of the circle’s enjoyment (called a raibu; ‘live’), a meeting can more or less function as a collective practice room. On a typical day, friends will sit or stand around, and if not playing an instrument of their own, the are yelling to chat over the cacophony of the collective jam. I have even had my own opportunity to try my hand at playing drums with a third year law student who was able to summon a few riffs on his guitar that I could play along to. We messed around with songs by two piece bands like The White Stripes and Japandroids. We were planning to perform at the November Festival, Kyoto University’s own gakuensai, but unfortunately we both became too busy to follow through on this. Nonetheless, I was able to attend a portion of the NF performance, and it was a blast. Around twenty bands performed, and that was only for this specific circle.

But it’s more than just music, of course. I’ve made friends here, with whom I’ll often go to eat after meetings are over. People talk and often share ideas about music, and one can tell that this is what essentially brings them closer, but yet there is much more here. Ultimately, it is music formed through fellowship, and fellowship formed through music. And I feel thrilled to have taken part.

Martha Levytsky: FBI and 交流会

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My experience with FBI was short but interesting. The club only met about once a month for a member movie marathon, and otherwise met in different locations for film shoots. With KCJS trips, it was difficult to meet with this CIP. The few times I met with everyone, I had an enjoyable time and would have liked to talk to the members more.

In order to participate in more CIP activities I started joining weekly 交流会. The Japanese members were very warm and easy to talk to. I spoke mostly in Japanese with them, but when they asked to speak English, I found it strangely uncomfortable and could not wait to switch back to Japanese. I will continue participating in 交流会 and hopefully next semester be a more active member in FBI. I am surprised that by going to 交流会 I do not feel like I am missing out on my other CIP. The 交流会 students are much easier to talk to as they are conducting a meeting with the intention of meeting with international students. FBI, while friendly, is a bit harder to feel comfortable in because the students are probably not used to foreign exchange students joining their already close team.

By the end of this semester’s CIP activities, I have discovered that speaking to Japanese students feels fairly similar to speaking with my host parents. I was pleasantly surprised by how warm and welcoming the 交流会 students were and will have to strongly think about staying with them during my spring semester. Though there is a schedule during every meeting, it feels very casual and I enjoy the time I spend with everyone. By talking to the Japanese students I learned various things, such as American stereotypes felt by Japanese students. It was a fun exchange. Each of us had an Ipod or Iphone so we exchanged our favorite apps and games. Our group discussed different hand gestures and their meanings in Japan and America. The gestures themselves were the same but their meanings were quite different. Every student I met was very polite, and offered their own dinner for others. My experience in America and Japan are entirely different, simply because of the polite, open manner of the Japanese students.

Giovanny Jorge: International Language Exchange

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I would imagine my CIP experience was very different from my fellow KCJS students, at least I would hope so. Coming to Japan I was really excited at the prospect of joining Doshisha’s orchestra, especially since I have not played in about three years. However that did not go as planned as detailed in my previous blog. Of course after that fell through I had to look for a different CIP to join which led me to the Doshisha Figure Building Club and the Music Game Club.
Doshisha’s Figure Building Club (模型研究会）seemed like an amazing opportunity to expand my already growing hobby of building Gundam. The emails went well enough, although I could not understand the phone call at all. This turned out to be a precursor for how the club would end up being, a complete lack of understanding. I went to the meeting with a Gundam in hand, knowing that at the very least I would come out of it with a new figure for my desk, but I did not expect the massively awkward atmosphere that lied in wait for me. While trying to make conversation with those around me in the three and a half hours I was there for, I was greeted with one of either two possibilities. Possibility one: a conversation would start and I would have no idea what the other person said or possibly two:  I would be ignored. Either way, I did not leave the club a happy camper nor can I say I learned anything besides the fact that building Gundam is an excellent way to distract yourself from the awkward situations.
On to the Music Game Club (Do it!音ゲー) then. The meeting room is basically an ovular table, set up like a conference room, with no games set up. The members were really sweet though I could not understand them very well. I think that if I had another KCJS student with me it might have gone a lot better. I was just a little disappointing that the club does not actually play games at the regular meetings. What I learned here was that in America if I were to hear about a music game club, then I can assume that they play games during the regular meetings, unlike here where they just spoke about their interests.
The CIP that I have gone the most to is a language exchange meeting which I go to with a few other students. Those people are really nice and they make a huge effort in making sure we understand the conversation. Unfortunately, since it took about three months to finally settle on the 交流会 I have not had the chance to learn many new words or make new friends. The reason why it took so long is that coupled with our workload and the obvious desire to sight-see and experience Japan outside of classroom walls, I really did not have the time to actively search for something that fits our needs, schedule, and financial constraints. All in all the CIP program is a good attempt at giving us opportunities to expand our Japan experience, but at the end of the day the program is basically handing someone a book of school activities and saying, “Find something soon, because you’re being graded on it”. If you can not end up doing something you really want, in my case orchestra, then you still have to do something regardless of whether you are interested in it and I believe that is a pretty big flaw.

Merrick Williams: Hiking and 交流会

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When I began the mountain climbing CIP, I was very excited for it. I tried to have some kind of contact every week but it just became very difficult, but right at that time, I was told about a language exchange meeting that took place every Friday at Doshisha, and I have since begun attending that.

Although it is a language exchange program, and most of the members are capable of English as well as Japanese, at the meetings Japanese is by far the more widely spoken language, which is of course preferable to me. I find I learn the most about the Japanese language and culture when the discussion gets away from the more heavily organized discussions and we are able to just talk freely amongst ourselves. Numerous conversations have been had about simple differences we find about American culture and Japanese culture – it was a funny surprise when comparing stereotypes that while Americans often think of the Japanese as short, the Japanese think of Americans as tall. What I am most often struck by is actually the amount of American and Western culture that has been adopted by the Japanese and that they use on a daily basis, both in terms of language and also culture. It is so strange to me that their culture has evolved in such a way that makes it feel foreign but also strangely similar at the same time.

I always also enjoy asking about specific parts of Japanese culture and being able to get answers from similar aged college students about daily life and the smaller aspects of culture that you don’t have the opportunity to learn about in school. These kind of discussions usually lead to comparisons, and it is always fun learning that neither of us know the other’s culture well, and often what either thought was very normal can actually be quite different in meaningful ways. However, in the end, I guess the old cliché is true about how really, as different as we are, we’re really all just alike.

I am excited to continue with this group next semester, as well as participate in the hiking club as often as possible, and continue to forge strong bonds with the people that I meet.

Jerome Molasky: EMBG (Music Circle)

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To be completely honest, I actually feel slightly guilty about not being more involved in my CIP this semester. One of the reasons (and a big reason, I think) for my minimal involvement was, of course, the amount of homework that I received from my classes, especially from the afternoon classes taught in English. Go figure. A constant barrage of field trips, coupled with random illnesses also didn’t help.

Part of the blame lies with me, though, and my lack of confidence in my abilities to become a full-fledged member of a music circle and its attached social group (in which much of the “community involvement” no doubt happens). I love music, and I love playing the guitar, but I’m still not very skilled, whereas many of the guitarists in the group have been playing for at least four years (I’ve been playing for almost three years now, off and on). I hope to work on this problem next semester, and will try to devote more time to practicing and going to group events. EMBG is a very laid back circle, which did make it somewhat easier to just go up to people and talk to them, but the language barrier is still a big, well, barrier.

Another problem for me has been the sporadic nature of the group. Different people show up on different days, sometimes the group isn’t allowed to make loud noises, and sometimes instead of a group meeting there’s a live performance. For all these reasons I was unable to establish a regular rhythm with my involvement in the group. Like I said before, though, I hope to become more involved next semester as I intend to stick with the group. A lot of the members seem like really cool people and I think it would be fun to hang out with them.  I just need to get to know them better. One of the two live shows that I went to was incredibly fun, and the students performing were intimidatingly proficient with their instruments, which I didn’t expect at first from such a casual circle. On the whole, groups like this don’t exist in the U.S., so next semester I want to get as much out of it as possible.

ヒュー・タラ：KIXSや会話サークル、その２

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秋学期の始まりにはCIPに対してどうすればよいのか分からなくて焦りましたが、結局KIXという国際交流サークルやEJKGという英語・日本語の会話グループに入ることが出来ました。この１学期、２つのサークルのおかげで、色々な経験が積めて、日本人の大学生の生活が理解できるようになったとは言わないまでも、少なくとも日本人との連絡やコミュニケーションのやり取りが上達した気がします。いずれにしても、サークルのミーティングやイベントで新しいことに気づいて、日本へ来る前には知らなかった２つのことが分かりました。

１つ目は日本人も遅刻することです。私は日本へ来る前に、「日本は電車が４時半ぐらいじゃなくて、４時３３分に到着するというような、ものすごく細かい時刻表があって、最先端技術の国の典型だから、日本人が遅刻するわけがないだろう」という既成概念がありましたが、日本人との付き合いなどで、「やっぱり世界中のどこでも人間は遅刻する。同じ人間なんだ」と考えるようになってきました。実は、私は遅れがちなので、遅れたりしたら日本人をイライラさせてしまうかもしれないと焦ったのに、京都の公共交通に慣れてからだいたい問題なくいけます。逆に、遅刻する方は日本人でした。３０分も連絡なしに遅刻した相手を根気良く待ったこともありましたが、「すごい忍耐力だな」と思いました。

２つ目は、日本人がアメリカ人に比べれると割とシャイだということです。やっぱり、性格というものは人によって異なりますが、全体的に比べると、日本人の方は割と恥ずかしいと感じやすいと思います。交流サークルで紅葉を見に行ったとき、日本人も外国人もいましたが、両方はあまり交流せず、仲間同士で固まった状態でした。違和感まではなかったけれど、自分の選択で国際交流サークルに入っているのに外国人と話さないというのは、恥ずかしがり屋でも変だと思いました。とはいえ、これはただ人見知りなだけかもしれません。会話サークルで話が盛り上がったら、私は日本人の相手が恥ずかしく感じると思わないのです。結局、留学生の私たちは外国人なので、交流するにはさまざまな超えにくいバリアーがあるのではないかと思っています。

最後に、CIPに参加することで、そうしないと理解できないことを一杯身につけてきました。あいにく国際的なサークルばかりに入っていて、もし普通のスポーツやアクティビティーに関するサークルに入っていたら、もっと学べたのにと少し後悔する一方、国際的なサークルで、１つの趣味だけではなくていろいろな趣味のある日本人、そして日本人だけではなくて世界中のあらゆるところからやってきた留学生、多種多様な人々と出会えて、大変嬉しく思っています。これからも、自分の知識や能力を伸ばすために、頑張っていきたいと思います。