Right now, the current GEL freshmen are nearing the end of their freshman year. You will soon be sophomores which makes you sempai to the new incoming class. Now, that you are older and wiser, what advice would you give about how they could spend their freshman year well?
Would you tell them that they should copy you? Should they get a part-time job? Who should they talk to to get the best advice? How should they study English? What major should they pick? Do you have any regrets about the year? Did you have any great experiences that you think they should know about? Do you have any warnings for them?
Explain why you think what you think in your comments.
(We will do this one during class).
I think If you have enthusiasm, you can do anything.
I am majoring in special education.So easy to balance study and part-time job and hobby.
But first of this year, I felt very hard because I have to decide when I study abroad soon and I have to check my four year study schedules.
Then I decided to study abroad at second year. So I had to take TOFUL in freshmen.
So I had to study for TOEFL in very short time and I couldn’t prepare enough.
But now I get used to this program. So I feel very fulfilling.
I think so too. I’m majoring in English education, so I have to take a lot of classes this semester. Since I have classes until 6pm, I usually do my part-time job from 18:30-22:30 . This is very hard on me.
But because I have to save money to study abroad, I cannot not have a part-time job. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I’m planning to study abroad at senior or junior. There are no problem on the class-taking plan,and I have enough time to prepare for study abroad.
I feel very tired with all of the school and work, but I will get used to this school life, I think.
I think if we have “enthusiasm”, we can be satisfied no matter what.
Actually I don’t want new freshmen to be like me. I experienced some part time jobs but finally I worked on them incompletely. Nevertheless, I couldn’t spend enough time studying not only for each classes but also English. So my memories of the English words or phrases which I learned until in high school have gradually faded away. Now, however, I have an objective and I am ready to try hard in order to achieve the goal. I learned from this year, “no pain, no gain.” If you can do part time job completely, you should do it because you can experience things you cannot do so just in university life. In addition, I suggest that you join clubs and make good friends. Whether or not you can enrich your university life is up to you! I am still struggling every day.
I really think that they should get a part-time job because it is very good experience. I actually work at a japanese style bar. I realized the importance of earning money and I learned how to communicate with customers. I want to work in a customer-facing role in the future, so there are a lot of worthwhile things. But I need to warn you: there are many bad part-time jobs. For example, that will make you take more shifts than you want or there can be people problems like not getting along with your boss. I think that you should choose part-time job carefully. You should get advice from sempais.
Hi Ayuna. I’m Kenta in the GEL program at HUEA and I’m a member of the 2期生 (second class of entering students). I agree with your suggestion. Especially, I also think that we should learn the importance of earning money and communicating with other people through part-time jobs. This experience will help us to spend our life at the university bravely. In addition, as you said, there are a lot of bad part-time jobs in Japan. I’m working at a cram school. As a part time job, however, it is very hard for me. I’m not free to change my shifts and I cannot get reimbursed for transportation expenses. Actually, I somewhat regret choosing this job. We have to take much time deciding what part-time jobs we do.
Your advice is good for me to make a decision of part-time jobs. I agree with you about how worthwhile doing a part-time job is. I don’t have one right now, but I want to get one soon. I think it’s not easy to earn money, however I will make something worthwhile of it in my life. And yes, I will do my best to choose my part-time job “carefully”, I will also ask you sempais to get some good advice. Thank you.