Orientation at Kansai Gaidai

When arriving at the Seminar House the staff (volunteer and otherwise) look up your name to make certain that you are an incoming student, where you will be housed for orientation, and so forth. When you check in you will have to show your passport for verification. When they are satisfied that you are who you say you are they give you an “Orientation Manual” and show you to your room.

This Orientation Packet has a wealth of information for you to take in. I will provide the short version here, by what I recommend.

1. Make sure you read through the entire packet at least once, from there you can take what is necessary for you from it.
2. Examine the “Orientation Schedule”. It will have all of the events that will be going on throughout the week that are hosted by Kansai Gaidai. Make sure to note when you are assigned to take the “Language Lab Orientation” and the “Japanese Placement Test”. Some events on the schedule that I recommend that you attend are:
• The Banking Session; this will walk you through opening a Japanese Banking account through Sumitomo-Mitsui Bank. If you already have an international bank account (such as Citibank) this is not entirely necessary, but it is handy to have as Kansai Gaidai prefers to do business with this bank (such as crediting you with your housing deposits for instance).
   
• If you are participating in the homestay program you should probably go to the Homestay Students’ Meeting, I assume they will give program specific information to you. In similar fashion, if you are going to be staying in a Seminar House for the semester you should attend the Seminar House Residents’ Meeting. You will be introduced to your Seminar House “Otoo-san” and “Okaa-san”, as well as your Resident Advisor and the other people that you will be living with for the rest of the semester. I recommend going to this to meet and talk with people, if you have already read the Orientation Manual then the information they provide will just be repetitive.
   
• Student Loan Session and Payment of Fees; If you are taking out loans or need to make payments to the university while in Japan. This is mandatory if you have any money that is owed to Kansai Gaidai because they will not let you register for classes unless these are payed beforehand (common-sense).
   
• Opening Ceremony and Welcome Luncheon; this is a nice ceremony and free food where you can meet people and explore the campus more.
   
• Registration; Registering for classes is extremely important because you will go through a lengthly process where you will first get a number taken from a lottery of accepted students. You will then have to show up at the Center for International Education at Kansai Gaidai and stand in a line until it is your turn to register. When it is your turn you will have to show proof of payment for all fees (General Deposit, Liability Insurance Fee, Tuition, and Housing), proof of your insurance policy, signature on the Standards of Conduct Agreement and the Privacy Consent Form. After they are satisfied you will then present the courses that you wish to register for, because this is a “first come, first serve” kind of system having a favorable position in the registration lottery helps you get the courses you want. Because the maximum enrollment number for each course is 30 students, and there are over 400 international students, it pays not to be near the end of the line. NOTE: Make sure you have all of your insurance papers in order because this is what most students had problems with.
   
• Besides these things the other events were not very necessary in my mind, however if there is something that looks interesting to go to, attend it. Otherwise I think your time would be best spent doing other things (of which I will recommend a few in a following post).
   
3. Take out and post somewhere noticeable the Academic Calendar, because this tells you what the national holidays and when you have no classes, as well as deadlines, etc.
    
4. Orientation Period Rules; During Orientation there are more strict rules that are put into effect that are lifted, or lessen, after the period comes to a close. 

• There is a curfew of 10:00pm during the Orientation Period after which the outside gates are locked as well as the door into the Seminar House itself. If you come after the curfew you will have to ring the buzzer because you are not given a key to the outside gate or door until after you move into the Seminar House to begin the semester. This is especially annoying because this will wake Okaa-san and Otoo-san, more times that not hindering a less than favorable relationship between you and them.
   
• During the Orientation Period there are no visitors allowed past the central lounge (for Seminar Houses I, II, and IV) or the lobby (Seminar House III). Also the visitors are not allowed to use any of the kitchen utensils, computer labs, or pretty much anything except the couch or common area. After orientation this is loosened up a bit, but they will check every now and then. 
   
• No alcohol is allowed inside the dorms. There are plenty of bars and other places to drink around the area (in a later post I will mention a few of my favorites), just for harmony’s sake adhere to this rule. Also, this rule does not lift after the orientation period.
   
• Quiet Hours at 10:00pm, you will get yelled at (in Japanese) if you are too loud after quiet hours begin. They say it is to harbor a good relationship with the neighbors. Seriously though, Japanese walls are not thick and sound travels farther than you think it would. Just try to be courteous, it goes a long way. This rule does not get lifted as well, although they will be a little more lenient with you.

Now that covers all of the official business I believe, so the next post will cover my personal “Orientation Dos and Don’ts,” until then!

 

Arriving at Kansai Gaidai

August 27th 2007

Leaving early in the morning, I got on the shinkansen heading towards my university, Kansai Gaidai. I arrived in Kyoto and waited for the pickup from the university and met a few others that were scheduled for the same time. We waited around the exit, for a while and a person holding a “Welcome incoming Kansai Gaidai Students” helped us load our luggage into the bus that would be taking us to Hirakata City.

Arriving at the place where I would be living for almost 5 months, I was greeted by some student volunteers and we were ushered to respective dormitories we would be staying in for the week long orientation. All study abroad students would be staying in the dorms, or seminar houses as they called them, for the duration of the orientation regardless if they were home-stay or not, this way we would be able to meet each other, develop friendships, etc. 

It was almost 5pm when I arrived so I put my bags in my room and immediately wanted to take a shower, it was a few degrees cooler in Hirakata City than it was in Tokyo but it was still very hot and humid. This gives me the opportunity to describe the seminar houses a bit. 

At Kansai Gaidai there are four seminar houses. Seminar houses I, II, and IV are dormitory style while seminar house III ( the one I would be living in ) was apartment style. Dormitory style meant that there were many rooms per floor, and the bathroom and cooking facilities were shared. Apartment style meant that there were four suites per floor, in each suite there were four rooms housing two students each (unless a person got a single room). Also in each suite there were two sets of sinks, refrigerators and freezers for the kitchen/dining area, the bathroom area had four shower stalls, four sinks, and two toilets. There is also a living area with a tv, really large couch, and two tables. I will describe living in the seminar house in a later post, but that is the general layout of the seminar house’s living space.

For the duration of the orientation because there were so many students, the double rooms had three people sleeping in them, and the singles had two people. At the end of the week the home-stay students would move out. 

At first I didn’t meet any of my roommates or suite-mates, so I took the opportunity to walk around a bit. Also of note, at this point I only had one of my carry-on pieces of luggage because the others I had sent by Yamato Shipping and I couldn’t pick them up yet, so I did not have any towels yet. I went out in search of a place to buy towels so that I could shower. Here’s the area around the seminar houses ( image provided by Kansai Gaidai ):

After taking my shower  I went on a tour of the area hosted by the volunteers at around 7pm, it was a good way to get to know the area and meet some of my fellow study abroad students before classes started. We went to a couple of the supermarkets, the East Gate, the Katahoko bus stop, and the park shown on the image above. I had a good time walking and talking and met some cool people. Finally I made it back to seminar house III and met some of my suite-mates for the orientation period, and turned in for the night. 

In the next post I will write about the orientation itself; the rules and regulations, some of the activities, and my suggestions on what to do and what not to do, until then!!