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Shinnosuke Hara, Exchange Student to Wales

Signs in English and Welsh in front of Cardiff Castle. In Welsh, y and w are also vowels. Pronunciations of ch, dd, ll are unique to Welsh, and I still have a hard time memorizing place names.

A big tree in a park which is a minute walk from the dormitory. There are rugby & soccer fields that are free to use. Such a large green space in the center of town looks luxurious from a Japanese standard.

A big tree in a park which is a minute walk from the dormitory. There are rugby and soccer fields that are free to use. Such a large green space in the center of town looks luxurious from a Japanese standard.

When I visited a friend near the west shore of Wales, we went hiking with his mother. The strange thing about this family is that they can speak Welsh except for the father who is Welsh himself. In Wales, as you go further into the countryside, more Welsh is spoken.

When I visited a friend near the west shore of Wales, we went hiking with his mother. The strange thing about this family is that they can all speak Welsh except for the father who is Welsh himself. In Wales, as you go further into the countryside, more Welsh is spoken.

At the pub, we watched "Six nations", an international rugby competition. The six nations are Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy. Unfortunately, Wales finished with 1 win and 4 losses. I watched the match between Wales and rival team England in the campus pub. It felt strange because there were more English students than Welsh students. We all enjoyed the match without any trouble.

With girls who gathered at the pub to celebrate my birthday. I am holding a special birthday drink, "a dirty pint", which is a mixture of drinks. I guess this is how people grow up in Britain.

The Pub is My Learning Place ---- A Report by a Drunken Exchange Student

The United Kingdom is composed of four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. And Cardiff is the capitol of Wales. You don't need to show your passport traveling from England to Wales, however, Welsh, in addition to English, is an official language in Wales. You don't often hear people talking Welsh in Cardiff, but it is used in street signs and name of places, so you cannot completely avoid the language.

In this column, I would like to write about pubs, which originated in Britain. The public house, which is usually called the pub, is where working adults dine in the daytime, and where all kinds of people drink alcohol in the evening. The pub is vital for everyday life in this country. The biggest difference from izakaya (Japanese-style bars) is that customers order drinks and pay at the counter, and drink without sitting down or eating food.

Here at Cardiff, my rule is to never turn down a friend's invitation, so going to the pub has become an important role of my life. At the pub, you can get to know more about your friend, and you can also get close with his friends, and easily expand your circle of friends.

It is also a good opportunity to get acquainted with friendly locals. When I talk to them in Welsh that I learned from a friend, they all speak back to me in Welsh delightedly. Not to say that I understand what they are saying. I learned by experience that by showing interest in someone, you can get closer to that person.

The largest stadium in Britain is located in Cardiff, and on the day of an international match of Rugby, the national sports of Wales, the whole town is dominated by rugby fans. People who cannot go to the stadium cheer at TV screens in the pubs.

Going to the pub is not only for having fun or practicing English. I was actually doing studies for my major at the pub. I didn't bring my textbooks; I was doing field-work there. I am involved in a group project of marketing research of a major pub chain called JD Wetherspoon, so I had to go the pub with my friends to do some "marketing research". "Reviewing" our studies at the pub after submitting our report was also quite important.

At Cardiff University, all exchange students have to attend a Japanese class together with Japanese learning students. Through this experience, I was able to get close with students who are interested in Japan, but also rediscover Japan from a foreigner's perspective. Cardiff provides a student friendly environment. For example, various databases are accessible from outside the campus. The town with a population of 320,000 is quiet and a good place for international students to study, also because the cost of living is low and the town is quite peaceful. If I were to reselect a place to study abroad, I am sure to choose Cardiff University again.

Iechyd da! (Cheers!)

About Cardiff University

Cardiff University is recognized as one of Britain's leading universities. The breadth of expertise encompasses the humanities, engineering and technology, preparation for a wide range of professions, and lifelong learning. Cardiff University provides personal and intellectual skills demanded by employers, and this results in high reputations from the business world and very high levels of graduate employment (91.1% for 2004/05). It also provides lifelong learning activities, of which many are custom-made for companies. Students are attracted from the UK and worldwide, and international students comprise some 17% of the total student population.

Year of establishment: 1883
Address: CF10 3XQ Wales, UK
Size: 20,344 undergraduate students and 5,486 graduate students
Number of faculty and staffs: 4,250 (For 2006/07)
History with Keio: Exchange Partner Institution since 2001
Number of exchange students (FY2006): 2 students from Cardiff, 2 students to Cardiff

About the writer

Shinnosuke Hara
Third-year Student, Faculty of Business and Commerce

Born in Shimane and studying at Wales, Shinnosuke seems to be linked by fate to minor places. The first time he became interested in foreign countries was in elementary school, where he played basketball and looked up to the NBA. In his first year of university, he studied English in Ireland for three weeks and found out that schoolbook English and English as a communication tool are completely different. At the time, he did not have the courage to study abroad for a year, but in his second year he received scholarships from Keio and from a private company, and in the summer of that year, he decided to study abroad. Two months later, he applied for the exchange program and luckily passed the test.

* Exchange student (September 2005-July 2006) to Cardiff University.
* The facts are those at the time of the interview.