Details

• Japan
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

For otaru: have the most important documents printed out and if you are going in the winter pack some serious winter gear/snowsport equipment if you do any!

2. Accommodation

Accomodation is provided by the uni for all students. Student housing is very close to the Uni and I felt very safe all the time. Be prepared, the housing and the uni are on a steep hill, but there is a bus 3 times a day! Also there is a storage room that they unlock when the new students arrive in the dorm. A lot of useful stuff in there so make sure to check it out as early as possible before everything is gone

3. Academic life at host university

Attendance is very important, no exams AT ALL, local students are a bit reserved and speak very little english but are very nice and always try to be helpful. The cafeteria is amazing but there are basically no vegetarian options for those concerned. If you are interested in learning japanse take the language-course, if you aren't try to take all the courses in october-november so that you have free time in dec/jan/feb for skiing/traveling.

5. Every day life in the host country

Japan is amazing and everything works very well. UNTIL the snow starts falling in Hokkaido then everything becomes very chaotic trains are canceled highways are closed busses are limited so if you go in winter be very prepared for that. The country is very safe, only concern might be bears so dont go hiking alone in fall in the woods. Plenty of leisure activities like skiing/onsen, social might be a bit hard since the japanese are a bit hard to get to sometimes. There is a gym and a lot of sportsclubs right on campus so you have a lot of options for that.

6. Testimonial

My highlights were the other internationals, Snowboarding, Traveling and the food. Since you are all in one dorm if the people are nice you can really make friends for life. Japow is real its the best snow you can get i am serious we had so much new snow each day for 3 months. Travel as much as possible, go to Tokyo or try to experience Japanese nature. We also went to China for a week so seeing Asia is possible too. The food is amazing and extremely cheap.