Details

• Japan
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

The most important things that needed to be done before the exchange were: 1. visa 2. course selection 3. accomodation 4. flights The host university guided me throughout the visa process and as an EU member it was really easy to obtain. It took around a week to complete the whole process once the university sent all the necessary documents. I must say they sent the available courses pretty late compared to other other universities, so I would recommend starting doing the learning agreement as soon as the courses arrive. There are some university dormitories offered to us and I would 100% recommend choosing Hiroshi Hall from the options. As for flights, I bought my tickets fairly late one month before departure but the price was still acceptable. I wouldn't book them too close to the semester start since the dormitory move in was two weeks before that and the university did no allow late move ins.

2. Accommodation

The university provided student dormitories we could choose from or find our own accomodation. I would recommend going with the student accomodation unless you really want to stay in the city. For girls the uni offered 1. Meito residence- a beautiful house for max. 8 girls (I think) in the heart of Nagoya. It's great if you want to live in the city and have your own room, but the commute to class is around an hour and a half so I would plan the course schedule accordingly. The social life is also more limited because most of the exchange students will be in Hiroshi Hall. There is another house on the street for master students,so the girls made friends with them. 2. Hiroshi Hall- mixed accomodation on campus with around 60 people. A lot more guys than girls. The rooms are for 3 people so no private space. That is where I stayed and I had the best time ever there. It's the best for socializing as over the course of 4 months you make friends with most of them. There are also really nice common areas and that's usually where everyone hangs out. It's on campus so it's far from the city. The last bus to campus was around 9pm. So during a night out you could either take a taxi that was 50 euro or wait until the first train. Guys also had the Hiroshi Hall option or Sanbongi residence 2 stop away from campus. I would advise people not to take this as the guys there complained about no social life and feeling isolated from everyone. Some people also got their own accomodation in the city. They usually went through a company. It usually is cheaper than the dormitories but some of them had issues with mold and stuff not working. The school took some time to announce if we will get the place in the accomodation so that was quite stressful.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus has a good gym, library, a conveniece store and two cafeterias. Some students organize events like football tournaments or parties in the city which are always nice. The teaching style is very different compared to WU. It's mostly based on class participation and its a case study method based teaching. The quality varies based on the teacher.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport- quite expensive in Nagoya. The transport is great once you get into the city but getting there you only have two buses from campus. Safety- I felt very safe in Japan at all times as woman Leisure activities- travelling of course. the biggest expense always was the transport. Sports options- the gym on campus has most of the facilities needed. There are also football fields on campus Nagoya itself was a very vibrant city with a lot of things to do. Near campus if you took the Koennishi bus and rode the Limino line to Fujigaoka you would get to a nice area with nice Izakayas and Karaoke spots.

6. Testimonial

The exchange was for sure the highlight of my studies. I made friends from all around the world and got to travel Japan. Living in Hiroshi Hall felt like being in a summer camp for 4 months, always having someone to talk to or play games with. The Japanese people are kind and welcoming so I recommend interacting with the locals as much as possible.