Ban Haruka from Tokyo Institute of Technology

1) What made me participate in the program

There are two reasons to join this program.

First, I really wanted to study abroad. I like to talk with various countries people and know different cultures and languages. Even though I have a lot of foreign friends in Japan, I’ve never studied abroad for a long time. So, this time, going to another country and making me a foreigner, I wanted to learn another country's culture in their country. Second, I wanted to gain deep organic and inorganic chemistry knowledge and join their laboratory. Generally, there are few opportunities to join another laboratory, so this is a great chance for me to study the knowledge and skills of other departments of chemistry in another laboratory.

2) What the program is about / What I learned from the program

In this program, I joined the KAIST chemistry laboratory and did the research. I talked a lot with lab members about not only chemical knowledge and skills but also each country’s culture and language. Through this program, I could learn organic and inorganic chemistry synthesis and analysis techniques and Korean culture and language.

3) What I liked most about the program

First, I really liked the time spent with my lab members. They were so kind to me; someone always translated their conversation into English for me and someone always helped me to eat an unknown Korean meal. Especially going to Yeosu is really my favorite memory. That was my first time traveling with lab members. I will never forget that night of eating chicken and drinking alcohol together with them. Second, going to Busan with Campus Asia’s Chinese members on the weekend is also my favorite memory. The members were all Chinese except for me, but they always tried not to use Chinese and talked with me a lot. That made me really happy. We went to so many places together in Busan even though we didn’t have enough time to make plans for this travel because we’d just met for the first time 4 days before it. I think the reason why we could it was we could talk a lot during the trip. I really appreciate their kindness. I hope I can see them again in the near future.

4) How I think my experience in this program will affect my future studies and career

First, the gained knowledge and skills are really useful for writing my thesis. Actually, recently I attended a chemical conference in Japan and did a presentation of my research. At that time, I could answer the other chemistry specialist audience’s questions well because I could learn another area of chemistry in KAIST and make my view broader. Also, I’m sure that this knowledge and skills will be useful for my future job, too because I already decided to work as a scientist at a Japanese automobile company.

Second, learning about other country’s cultures and understanding them was a good experience for my future job. I want to be a chemist who can create a substance that makes whole people happier.  To achieve this, I think working globally and understanding every country’s culture is necessary. This time was my first step to understanding other cultures.