Stephanie Rothrauff - Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (2003-04)

Study Abroad in Japan

I spent my junior year studying abroad, at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. I chose to go to Japan because I already knew the language and wanted another chance to live in Japan and experience everyday life there, while taking Materials classes and given a chance to do research in magnetism, an area I wouldn't have been able to study at Purdue.

My Overall Experience

Overall, I think my year in Japan was a lot of fun and a good experience for me. I feel that I was able to make the most out of my time in Japan by traveling to many of the beautiful sights and experiencing Japanese culture. Because the school system is set up differently than in the US, we were given about a month off for spring break, which I used to travel all over the country! I had an opportunity to go on a one-week trip to visit engineering companies (like Toyota manufacturing plants, Nippon steel plants, etc) then hitchhiked throughout the southern part of Japan, and made it from Kyoto to Nagasaki and back. I was also able to travel to Hokkaido to see the Sapporo Snow Festival. I had wanted to see this festival since high school, and being given the opportunity to travel there with a group of my friends was a blast. All in all, the most memorable place I went to in Japan was Mount Fuji. Four friends and I started our journey up the mountain at 10pm one night, and made it to the summit at 4:30am, just in time for the sunrise and it was such a beautiful and memorable experience.

The Language Challenge

In addition to the materials coursework we were required to take in Japan, I tried to improve my Japanese language skills through the language courses offered at Tohoku, but most of my learning was through speaking with other students from my laboratory, conversation partners, Japanese friends, and a host family that I was introduced to.

Culture

One of the most important things I will take back from this trip is all the work and experience I had in my research lab. They not only helped me find my way through the city, and give me valuable help in the lab, but also helped me with all of my questions and concerns throughout the year. In addition to the research I did, through speaking with other students in my laboratory, I have learned about materials engineers in Japan and what jobs are out there for my future. Before coming to Japan I was interested in studying magnetic materials because of the importance of magnetic systems and materials in everyday devices, such as electric motors, televisions, cell phones, and sound and video reproduction systems. I studied in the Inomata Laboratory in the department of Materials Engineering at Tohoku University, where I researched magnetic properties and domain wall behavior of magnets. This was both challenging and interesting because it was a new topic and has many applications in the real world.

Housing

Living situations were a little difficult to handle. Although the international dorm was a cheap place to live, I wish we would have had more living options available. It was a great atmosphere, because everyone living there was an exchange student as well and you automatically had a bond with them. But the international student dorm was quite a walk from anywhere you wanted to go. It was about 20 minutes to campus and other Tohoku University students, and 20 minutes to downtown Sendai. Fortunately, all of the students on the program were in the same situation, so we made the best of it, and ended up having a great year.