hi guys look who it is Greg's here it's
been like three years since you've been
in my videos I'm like a couple years
since I've seen am you just moved back
to Japan if you don't know who Greg is
let me do a quick flashback
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so great guys move back here and we
decided to do another video talking
about our university experiences because
we've both been out of university for a
while now and it gave us some time to
reflect on things and think about it a
little more so I figured we'd do an
updated version so I asked you guys for
your questions on Twitter and hopefully
we can answer them and give you guys
some tips and advice if you're thinking
about coming to Japan for university did
you guys have a difficult time in uni
with a language barrier how was your
experience for me it wasn't too bad I
mean like in all countries you usually
use a language that you're trying to
learn in the classroom so like here
which is all Japanese so even like I'm
at basic levels they try to you kind of
basic Japanese but everything like easy
you have like any like questions
anything that's going to be in Japanese
too so it's just kind of get you a
peasant's of language but I mean they do
that in America too so like if you're
like a Spanish speaker it's only English
in a classroom so kind of the same so
you get used to it over time yeah like
it's kind of nice even if you have a
language barrier to start with because
they force you into using Japanese you
don't really have a choice you really do
pick it up quite quickly yeah I had
quite a solid level of Japanese before I
entered University so I didn't really
have many problems but I did have some
troubles with the classes that were like
science or psychology that kind of stuff
was a little difficult for me in
Japanese but again I heard the
vocabulary everyday the same types of
terms and eventually I just got used to
it so it really wasn't an issue for
either of us I think I have jlpt thank
you but is it enough to go to uni there
as a normal student and not as an
exchange student I believe for our
university you need an EQ to be accepted
as a degree student yeah yeah I say I'm
pretty sure it would be similar for
other universities as well the gap
between sang-kyu and me Q is quite big
so I think you do need those extra
yeah vocabulary to get through your
classes in university so I would
recommend studying for an EQ how is the
difficulty level of Japanese courses
compared to the Canadian or American
courses well for our university it was
really easy you feel that way - yes
sometimes like honestly I felt like I
was back in McCallum entry school at
times it was weird
but I've talked to other people that
have been to both University in like
North America and Japan and they said
that Japan is known for being very
difficult to enter University and to get
accepted into the one that you want to
be in but then the classes themselves
and graduating is rather easy so that
was definitely my experience yeah you
thought the same classes in Japan are
very lenient actually so yeah actually
very easy to kind of pass your classes
yeah I feel like the teachers were too
nice to students yes not such a good
thing but I mean it could probably vary
from university uniready here it does
yeah like I'm sure there are strict
universities in Japan maybe like Los
Zetas and you know why are level
universities probably are not as lenient
so yeah I would expect a little more
from them
but I feel like University in Canada is
rather difficult the professors are
really strict and if you skip a class
you're oh there's some professors that
are super strict like that and they
wouldn't accept you falling asleep in
class or showing up late whereas in
Japan you could just not show up for
house the tournament it was pretty bad
but that's pretty true what was the face
like when you guys went to uni was
cafeteria food actually decent or was
the conbini the choice of students well
except for me I always brought a bento
to school I usually made my own lunch
and I would always bring it to school
yeah Craig was known for that I had his
bento his curry bento I like cooking so
I pretty much always brought food it was
kind of the same thing a lot of times I
wouldn't mix and match there getting
vegetables every once in a while but
pretty much I don't know I enjoy cooking
more than buying food
but I think a few times I got um some of
the cafeteria food we actually have a
lot of food at our cafeterias a lot of
choices we had like noodles ramen
noodles soba there was a little bakery
that smoked some breads hot dogs that
kind of thing different bread like the
hotdog and a bread the bean paste in a
bread things in bread yeah what else do
we have
we had like curry like a joke good
dishes was like some kind of meat and
then rice and then salad there was
really a big selection and the food was
decent I did eat at the cafeteria
sometimes I really did like going to the
conbini and getting rice balls and stuff
like that as well so I think it was a
balance of folks they were both good our
part-time jobs doable for students I had
a part-time job I taught English
part-time did you do any work call yours
um well at the beginning I didn't do any
work at all but towards the end I
started um teaching - it is legal to
work part-time on a student visa you
just have to apply for permission to do
it you won't have the permission right
away I believe when you get your visa so
you need to send in those forms and I
think all the time they will accept it
yeah I don't think I've ever heard of
anyone getting tonight and then you'll
be allowed to work
what was it 28 hours a week so that's a
good chunk of time that they allow you
to work you can make a decent amount of
money working part-time but it may be a
little different from the university
because sometimes they'll tell you like
even though it says you can do 28 they
only allow you to do 20 right your
university might have rules but limit
the amount hours they want to work
because our university was strict with
some student it was according yeah they
wanted them to focus more in their
studies than on work so it depends on
the universities but legally you are
allowed to work as a student if you
apply for permission was it weird being
a foreigner
did you get along with everybody
I wouldn't say weird we did kind of
stand out yeah our school had lots of
Asian foreigners lots of Chinese and
Korean students yes and not as many
students from America and Europe so we
did kind of stand out among the
foreigner group I wouldn't call it weird
people didn't like talking to us because
we were the foreigners and they wanted
to practice English or get to know us I
enjoyed my experience yeah YouTube did
the professor give you any special
treatment or was it the same with
everyone in one of my courses they did
give me special treatment
it was a course learning about AMA the
Japanese flight company and learning how
to be a stewardess and all the like ins
and outs of the flight industry and the
exam was so hard it was so hard and I
got to the last question and it was an
essay and it had to be hand written in
Japanese and I was so slow at writing so
I couldn't finish it before the time
when it was up so I brought it up
teacher knows like I'm so sorry I write
really slow in Japanese and he's like
always okay you did really well in class
I know you understand the materials so
I'll give you a decent mark
regardless whereas like a Japanese
person wouldn't get that so in some
cases we did get I got special treatment
yeah well I mean I didn't but I know
like based off of like learning kanji
kanji is kind of hard especially when
you're in different classes that are all
full Japanese vase mm-hmm I mean it's
hard for us to like well I mean some
people that depending on how much time
you actually study if you say a lot of
times if you practice the right
instruction all that then you get faster
but if you don't it's kind of hard for
us to just know know the kanji and like
do it at the same time for like essays
and so great and under a time limit so
yeah they were a little vini at with us
which was helpful it's not like we used
it and took advantage of that we tried
our best but when it was impossible they
were really nice
about it so it was nice that's a nice
thing mm-hmm what were you guys like in
university versus how you are now am i
any different
no so very nice person actually like
we're not exactly the same I you know
like my first like real friends here
yeah probably I think so yeah Greg was
always one of my best friends here what
were the professor is like in you they
were nice I had a few that were very
nice um that would like try to crack
justice though but he that depends if if
they studied in like America then they
probably know how to kind of crack some
jokes mom that made it like fun yeah but
if they didn't study Benny punching them
was just really whatever yeah I kind of
felt like the professors were divided
between like kind of I want to see like
foreign style and peeping where they're
like having fun and they're really
relaxed and then like hardcore Japanese
lecture-style would literally just stand
in front of the class and lecture you
nothing else you just sit there and
listen to them talk
you're the balance of the two yeah which
was it was kind of cool I got to see
both sides I definitely learned more
Japanese in the lecture classes but I
really liked almost assented you
remember we have this one a really cool
teacher he was lots of fun we came to
the University today to visit our
teacher so you guys can meet our
favorite teacher almost Oh sensei was I
a good student yeah oh she's so excuse
me how can I apply to transfer my second
year of college what are the steps to
take to apply for a uni from America
well for majority of people what you
would have to do is you would try to
come here so you would try to like study
abroad here for at least one year and
then you get in you probably try to
figure out if you want to actually be
here and I guys bring it up do then yeah
and then from that then you would talk
to your university about doing the form
and then you would take care of the
forms and you know use in that back home
and then they try to fill that out that
you get transferred in lots of form but
I guess if you're in university in your
home
right now and you don't know where to
start go to your international office is
usually an international office that
deals with exchange students and
students that want to go on exchanges so
find that office and just pop in there
and ask them what programs they have for
Japan and see if they have anything to
offer you
my school never talked to us about
opportunity to exchanges so I was never
aware of them I just went in there was
like hey I want to go to Japan you guys
help me out is there anything and they
set me up with everything it was lots of
paperwork and lots of visa stuff and
must have not fun you know stuff like
that but it was doable so yeah just go
into your office and ask for their
advice mine's a little different they
would actually like and if you were in
the language club they would always come
in like the our international team here
would have people come in that studied
abroad
oh yeah they'll talk to you I wish mine
didn't so like if he I was in Japanese
class at the time - no they would send
in - my dad's been to Japan before and
then it was post about how they lived
there for one year or how they lived it
for six months and how it was for them
and and obviously they loved it because
they wouldn't go outside the class the
Romania buddies they made it and then
they would try to basically get us to go
in and find us to go abroad so for in
Spanish class or anything like that they
did the same thing but somebody that
went to Spain or Mexico Sonia oh so cool
they didn't do that so I had no idea
that those programs even existed all
right I think that's about it for now if
you guys had any more questions leave
them in the comments and we might be
able to do a part two if there's enough
questions or I can quickly answer them
in the comments and Greg's gonna start
up his channel again going like hands
down below go cheer him on subscribe to
him and I hope to see a lot more videos
from you while you're here and you'll
see Greg in more of my videos of course
because we're going to be hanging out a
lot so thanks so much for watching guys
hope you enjoyed this you soon bye
bye-bye
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