Student Voice“Online Summer Program 2021”: Friendships Made at AIU－ Zoe Shulevitz, IE3 Global, U.S.A.

AIU is pleased to announce that we will be offering an Elementary Japanese Program: Online (E-JapON) 2022 from June 15 through July 26. It is a six-week, six-credit, intensive Japanese language and culture study program designed for highly motivated elementary to upper elementary levels of Japanese language learners around the world.

Here is a message from Ms. Zoe Shulevitz, an international student who participated in the summer program online in 2021.

Ms. Zoe Shulevitz

Hello everyone! My name is Zoe Shulevitz and I am currently a third-year student at Oregon State University (which is located in the United States) studying Japanese and economics. Last summer I had the pleasure of attending Akita’s online summer intensive language program. After not being able to attend a study abroad program for years due to the ongoing pandemic, I was super excited when Akita announced they were planning on having a virtual program that I could attend! All of the staff, professors, and students I interacted with were super friendly and nice and within a few weeks I felt like I had already become a part of the Akita community—even from over 7 thousand kilometers apart!

Due to my language abilities being in-between class levels, my professor matched me with a current Japanese student at Akita so I could practice my conversational skills as a supplement to my classwork. As someone who really enjoys connecting with people, I was really excited to begin my sessions with this person. We talked for about an hour once a week during my time in the program and soon I felt much more comfortable in situations where Japanese was the only language being spoken. Even after the program ended, I and my match decided we wanted to keep talking. Since then, we have become great friends and we still talk every week. Just last week she received the gift I sent her for Valentine’s Day. I am so, so glad that I was able to attend Akita’s summer program because not only have my language skills improved, but I have also gained a wonderful new friend.