From April 2002 to the end of July 2002, I was an exchange student at Okayama University in Okayama, Japan, a city of 630,000 one hundred miles south of Osaka. I lived in the International House with other exchange students and full-time foreign students.
The Okayama study abroad program (EPOK) offered English-medium classes in Asian Economics, Japanese Culture, and Japanese language. During the semester, many guest professors came to our Economics class to lecture on topics as diverse as the Toyota Production System and the yakuza, a Japanese criminal organization. My Japanese Conversation course was intensive, meeting for ninety minutes four times a week. Mostly through in-class participation, I learned a decent amount of grammar and vocabulary in a short time.
To help meet local students, the exchange program offered fun classes in a variety of sports. I enrolled in a badminton class where I made many friends who enjoyed beating me regularly at shuttlecock.
Also, the exchange program encouraged students to pursue research in their curriculum with an appropriate professor. I worked in Professor Koga's laboratory in the electronics-engineering department on a control systems project.
Living in Japan for four months has enriched my worldview in ways I’m sure will be helpful to me in the future. I am grateful to the Universities of Illinois and Okayama for providing the financial and organizational support to participate in this program.
Anand Babu
October 1, 2002
Program Budget
City of Okayama
Okayama University
Dormitory Room
Engineering Project
Cycling Club Trip
Friends at Okayama U.
Himeji (w/UIUC Group)
Okinawa
Osaka
Tokyo
Nikko
Kyoto
