The short-term visit in Taiwan was only for two short weeks but I have never spent such fulfilling and memorable days where I have been able to go through all the lab rotation in English and to have experiences from the exchange with the people of Taiwan.
　　　The reason for my applying for this program was from my wish to experience a research life in abroad. I was anxious about my English, but when I arrived in Taiwan, the Taiwanese started talking to me in English and I felt that I was in a situation where I had to talk in English and had no time to think of whether people will understand my English. Though I was speaking in my broken English in the beginning, after a few days, English started coming out of my mouth and I was able to volunteer to start talking and to have discussions about my results. I was surprised at this change in me because in Japan, I was always thinking of whether my grammars and vocabularies were correct and most of the time, I was unable to have a conversation in English. And what I also did not expect was that the lab rotation and the presentation on the last day were hard just as the theme of the program "Musha-shugyo (samurai errantry)".
　　　In the four days of lab rotation, I learned about the experimental equipments and methodology which were new to me and conducted the experiments. The experiments turned out to be unsuccessful, but I thought about the cause and speculations and studied on the background of that experiment. I was so caught up in it that I felt the given four days were too short and wanted to learn more. I thought it would be great to have a longer program to do a research.
　　　The hardest thing for me in this program was the presentation and the preparation for it. To prepare the experimental data and knowledge acquired in four days in just a 10 min. presentation, to prepare a manuscript since it was my first presentation in English, and to stay up all night to finish them. On the day of the presentation, I was so nervous that I went blank when I stood on the platform and I just read out the manuscript. All of them which I felt powerless and weak. I can hardly say the presentation went well, but to do a presentation in front of many people and the time I spent for the preparation, everything was stimulating and every minute of it was a valuable time for me. "I did what I had to do" was the feeling I had, but through this experience, I would like to improve myself and not to let it finish as a good memory.
　　　Lastly, through this program, I felt that Taiwan was full of people with very warm heart. I asked myself, if it were me, would I be able to do the same thing? There were many people who touched my heart. I ate delicious foods everyday and made many friends and I grew to like Taiwan so much. I would like to cherish the moments I shared with many friends and would like to continue our friendship.

(From report)

▲　PAGE TOP

▲　PAGE TOP