ENG
INA
Beasiswa Japanese Studies Monbukagakusho Osaka Kyoiku University
My name is Ni Made Mia Septiarini Putri or what my friends call Mia-kun. I am a 2014 Japanese Literature student at Udayana University. In 2017 I participated in the Japanese Studies program scholarship selection offered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The selection consists of 4 stages, namely initial document selection, written test, interview test, and final document selection. However, I failed at the final document selection. I also re-entered the entire selection in 2018. I passed the document selection smoothly, followed by a written test. The written test was carried out at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Udayana University with approximately 20 participants. I had difficulty answering the type of questions to write kanji which is my weakness. About two weeks later, the results were listed on the Japanese Embassy's website that I and a participant from Bali also passed the written test. After passing the written test, the interview test was conducted at the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta. There were around 50 interviewees on the morning schedule at that time, and most of them came from Brawijaya University. The interview test was conducted in a closed room with five participants and three interviewers. I was very nervous, especially at that time my answer was almost the same as the other participants. The results of the interview test were announced again two weeks later on the website of the Japanese Embassy and it turned out that I passed the interview test. I also prepared the documents for the final document selection and sent them back to the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta. The announcement of the results of the document selection takes a long time, about three months from the date of sending the documents. And in July 2018 I finally passed the selection and was accepted for the Japanese Studies program for one year from September 25, 2018 to August 31, 2019 at Osaka Kyoiku University.
Osaka Kyoiku University or what can be abbreviated as OKU is one of the educational universities that receives quite a lot of ryuugakusei with various types of programs, including Japanese Studies, JASSO, and Teacher Training. While in Japan, I stayed in one of OKU's dormitories. My roommate is a student from Brazil and my dorm mates also come from various countries including Myanmar, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Germany. We were also accompanied by OKU students who acted as resident assistance who helped us when we had difficulties. Every month we has various events such as nagashi soumen, ichigo gari, christmas party, cooking takoyaki together and others.
Most of the courses offered for the Ryuugakusei have been determined according to the results of the placement test. At that time I was in a chuujoukyuu class and had the opportunity to take several classes with Japanese students. At first I was worried whether I could follow the class well, but I was very lucky to meet my friends who were very friendly and always helped me when I felt difficult to understand the lecture material. In addition to courses related to Japanese, I also had the opportunity to take courses related to Japanese culture such as kendo, shodo, shamisen, and aikido. Apart from attending lectures, I also participated in various events organized by OKU. I had time to help sell mini pizzas, and also watch a concert by the music department at the time of bunkasai. I also followed the kenshuu ryokou to Shiga and Tokushima prefectures. At the end of this program, all Ryuugakusei are required to write a final report and present it. I really have a hard time making it, what's more, everything must be made in Japanese with a good report sentence structure. I was helped a lot by my tutor and my supervisor Sensei during writing the final report. Finally in August I was able to finish the final report and present it well.
Of course I am very happy to have the opportunity to join this program. I got a lot of experience during my one year in Japan. Not only learning about Japanese language and culture, being in the midst of a Japanese environment made me feel both the good and the bad side of Japan. It's not easy to get into the Japanese circle of friends is one thing I really feel. Being the only ryuugakusei from Indonesia is both proud and hard for me. Often I feel lonely and also miss Indonesia, but at times like that I always remember that it was I who chose to receive this scholarship and that I must carry out the entire program well. I am very grateful to all those who have helped me and encouraged me while I was in Japan. I hope all more and more students of Udayana University's Japanese Literature study program will be able to undergo this program later.
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY