Hello, everyone! My name is Honoka, and I’m a third-year student in the Department of Global Tourism. I’m currently participating in a long-term study abroad program in Malaysia, where I’m enjoying the warm weather, which reminds me of the summer heat in Kyoto.

Today, I’d like to share my experiences studying abroad in Malaysia. I’m taking part in this program through Kyoto University of Foreign Studies’ exchange program, so if you’re considering studying abroad, I hope you’ll find this article helpful.

Kyoto University of Foreign Studies offers a variety of study abroad programs. I applied for the "Dispatch Study Abroad A" program, a long-term undergraduate option, and I’m spending the Fall 2024 semester at the National University of Malaysia. In this article, I’ll cover three main topics:
1. Kyoto University of Foreign Studies’ exchange program
2. Why I chose Malaysia
3. Advice for students considering studying abroad

1. Kyoto University of Foreign Studies’ Exchange Program
First, let’s talk about the exchange program at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. The main strengths of this program are:
• A wide range of partner universities to choose from
• Various types of programs tailored to different academic goals
• Credit transfer opportunities

With numerous partner universities around the world, the program offers a wealth of options. I chose Malaysia because I wanted to study Asian economics. Additionally, the program allows you to select the type of program that best suits your goals, whether that’s learning a language or focusing on your major. For Global Tourism Department students, only major-subject programs were available in the past. However, as of this academic year, language-focused programs have also become an option.

Another great feature is the ability to transfer credits from your host university to count toward your graduation requirements at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. With careful planning, you can study abroad without delaying your graduation.

2. Why Malaysia?
What comes to your mind when you hear “Malaysia”? When I tell people that I’m studying abroad in Malaysia, I often get asked, “Why Malaysia?” My answer is simple: “Because it seemed interesting!”

I’ve always been fascinated by Asian culture and history, and Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and multicultural society intrigued me. Since I aspire to work in the development of the Asian region in the future, Malaysia was the perfect place to gain comprehensive knowledge about Asia.

Living in Malaysia has confirmed my belief that it’s a truly diverse country. People from various backgrounds and religions—Malays, Chinese, and Indians—live together in the same communities. This harmonious coexistence is something not commonly seen in Japan or elsewhere. The abundance of holidays and festivals makes every day feel like a celebration. Experiencing different religious ceremonies also adds to the sense that life here is richer and more diverse.

Malaysia is also a multilingual country. In addition to Malay, you’ll hear English and Chinese spoken everywhere. While Malaysian English may not always follow standard grammar and can have a strong accent, it’s still an excellent environment for learning. Mistakes are less intimidating here because nobody pays much attention if you slip up on grammar or phrasing. Malaysia’s relaxed attitude toward English makes it an accessible place to practice the language.

Academically, Malaysian universities typically structure classes into two components: lectures and tutorials. Lectures focus on theoretical learning, while tutorials—held on separate days—involve practical tasks like group discussions and presentations. While the workload can be challenging, working with local students makes studying both fun and rewarding.

3. Advice for Students Considering Studying Abroad
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to choose a program and destination that align with your goals. If you’re even slightly interested in studying abroad or want to improve your language skills, take advantage of the extensive support offered by Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.

I started by visiting the Division of International Affairs, where I received guidance on preparing for the required English proficiency tests. After that, I regularly attended the NINJA program to improve my speaking and writing skills. With such comprehensive support available at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, it’s important to make use of it!

In this article, I’ve shared my study abroad experience to introduce Kyoto University of Foreign Studies’ exchange programs. If you’re curious about learning new languages, connecting with people from around the world, or exploring a new region or country, I hope this inspires you to take the leap!

こんにちは! グローバル観光学科3年次生の橋本永爾です。今回は前回に続きワーホリ第二弾「都市選びと海外生活」です。前回ではビザについて説明しましたが、今回は1年間、ワーホリをしてきた経験から都市選びと海外生活について書いていこうと思います。

都市選び
私が一年カナダで過ごしてきた中で抱いたのは、ワーホリビザを使ってカナダに来る人は思いのほかたくさんいる印象でした。滞在先がバンクーバーに近かったということもありよくバンクーバーに旅行に行っていた私は、そこにいるたくさんの日本人を目の当たりにして、驚きました。

そこで感じたこととして、大都市を選ぶと、安心を求めて似た価値観、つまり同じ国の人と一緒にいる時間が多くなるのではないかということです。実際、私もワーホリ後半は結果として日本人と一緒に過ごすことが多くなってしまいました。もちろんその場で出会った縁ですので日本人、外国人と線引きするのは良くないと思いますが、勇気を振り絞って全く価値観の違う人と交流できればより成長できることが確実です。そこで都市選びにおいての私個人の意見は、大都市は避けた方がよいとおもいました。

カナダ生活
私は最初の三カ月間は英語を学ぶ語学学校に通っていました。そこではメキシコや南アメリカ出身のラテン系と日本人が多く、私の友達も南アメリカ出身者が多くいました。語学学校を卒業した後は、お土産屋やカフェで働きながら生活していました。私が働いている中で実感したことは、英語力は働くからと言って身につくものではないのだなということです。もちろん複雑な仕事になれば話は違ってくると思いますが、簡単なサービス業では英語力はつきません。私のお勧めはやはり人としゃべることです。何気ない日常会話でも何かをテーマにディスカッションのような形式でも数をこなせば自ずと英語力は身につきます。しかし、先述のように私はワーホリ後半で日本人と一緒にいる時間が極端に多くなってしまったのです。その理由の一つは語学学校でできた友達がほとんど母国に帰ってしまったことです。ワーホリビザのように一年と長期間滞在できるビザを持つ人は少なく、多くは三カ月から半年で母国に帰ってしまうのです。もう一つの理由は泊まっていた場所です。私はドミトリータイプのホテル（ほかのシェアハウスやホームステイに比べ安い）に友達（日本人）と一緒に住んでいたからです。一緒に住んでいたので日本語でしゃべる機会が多くなってしまいました。

もしこれを読んでくださっている人の中でワーホリに行きたいと考えている人がいれば、私は現地の人たちと交流することを強く勧めます。さて次回は「ワーホリするための準備やワーホリ中にしておいた方がいいこと・やらなくてもよかったこと」を中心に書いていきたいと思います。

Choosing a city when living abroad
Hello, I'm Eiji Hashimoto, a third-year student in the Department of Global Tourism. This is the second part of my working holiday series, "Choosing a city when living abroad."
In the last article, I explained about visas, but this time I'd like to write about choosing a city when living abroad based on my experience of spending a year on a working holiday visa in Canada.

Choosing a city
My impression from spending a year in Canada was that there were more people coming to Canada on a working holiday visa than I expected. I often traveled to Vancouver, and I was surprised to see so many Japanese people there. What I felt was that if you choose a big city, you will spend more time with people who have similar values, that is, people from the same country in search of security. In fact, I ended up spending more time with Japanese people in the second half of my working holidays.

Of course, I don't think it's good to draw a line between Japanese and foreigners, but if you can muster up the courage to interact with people who have completely different values, you will definitely grow more. So, in terms of choosing a city, this is my personal opinion, but it's better to avoid big cities if you look for chances of personal growth.

Life in Canada
I went to a language school to learn English for the first three months. There were two main groups of people there: Latinos (Mexicans, South Americans, etc.) and Japanese, and many of my friends were South Americans.

After graduating from the language school, I worked at a souvenir shop and a cafe. What I realized while working was that you can't acquire English skills just by working in an English speaking country. Of course, it would be different if you had a more complicated job, but you can't acquire English skills in a simple service job. My recommendation is to talk to people. Whether it's a casual everyday conversation or a discussion on a certain topic, you will naturally acquire English skills if you do it a lot.

However, as I mentioned earlier, I spent an extremely large amount of time with Japanese people in the latter half of my working holidays. One of the reasons for this is that most of the friends I made at the language school went back to their home countries. There are few people who have visas that allow them to stay for a long period of time, such as a working holiday visa, and most people go back to their home countries after three to six months.

Another reason is the place where I was staying. This is because I was living in a dormitory-type hotel (cheaper than other share houses or homestays) with a friend (who is Japanese). Living together meant I had many opportunities to speak Japanese. If there are people reading this who are thinking about going on a working holiday experience, I strongly recommend interacting with local people.

Next time, I would like to write mainly about "preparing for your working holidays, things you should do during your working holidays, and things you didn't need to do."

はじめに
こんにちは、グローバル観光学科3年次生の橋本永爾です。　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　皆さんはカナダをはじめとした海外に興味がありますでしょうか？私は大学を一年間休学し、カナダでワーホリをしてきました。そこで皆さんの中でワーホリをやりたいなと思っている人や、海外に行ってみたいけど、どうすれば行けるのかわからないという人の為にこのブログを執筆します。もちろん検索をすればなんでも出てくるこの時代ですのでもっと踏み入った内容、つまり良い点だけでなく悪い点も積極的に書いていこうと思います。
ただし、これから書くことは、あくまでも多様なやり方があるなかでの私の体験にもとづく一学生の見方です。京都外国語大学グローバル観光学科としての公式見解として提示するわけではありませんので、ご理解ください。

そもそもワーホリとは？
ワーホリとはワーキングホリデービザの略称で海外へ入国するために必要になるビザの一種です。ほかには就労ビザや学生ビザなどがあります。学生ビザではその国の大学や語学学校に入学こそできますが、ほとんどの場合働くことができません。日本に比べ物価の高い外国で一年という長い生活するためにはよほどの貯金がない限り難しいでしょう。反対に就労ビザは働くことがメインですので働けますが、こちらは正社員として働くイメージですので英語を学びたいという目標なら厳しい選択になると思います。なぜなら英語を学びたい目標なら意思疎通が１００％完ぺきではないので雇ってもらえる可能性が低いからです。例外はもちろんたくさんあります。その点ワーホリはほかのビザと違い自由度が高いことが特徴の一つで、18歳以上30歳以下の人を対象に一つの国に一回の条件で発給されます。ワーホリはカナダやイギリス、オーストラリア、アイルランドなどの英語圏の国へも、ドイツやフランスなどの英語圏でない国へも行くことができます。ただし、アメリカはワーホリビザがありませんので行くことができません。

留学エージェント
ほとんどの人は、ワーホリビザを申請するとき留学エージェント（以下エージェント）に依頼し、申請を代行してもらう人が多いと思います。しかし、私はエージェントを利用することはお勧めしません。なぜなら、多額の仲介手数料を取られてしまうからです。私は、ビザをはじめ航空券や住まいなどは自分ですべて段取りをしたので、現地で出会った日本人の友達に聞いた話になりますが、ビザ代、海外保険代そして渡航代あわせて１００万円ほど必要だったようです。しかし、自力でやれば、ビザ代：約３万円、渡航費：片道約１５万程度であり　保険代に関してはあまり覚えていませんがここまでで約１８万円ほどしかかかっていません。　

もちろんエージェントに頼ると自分でやることはほとんどないので楽に海外に行けますが、私のように英語を勉強しに行く人なのであれば、自分でビザを取得してみてもよろしいのではないでしょうか。インターネットで検索し、画面とにらめっこしながら進めていくだけですが、ビザを自分の力で取得したのだ、と自己肯定感を上げることができるでしょう。もちろん大変ですし、実際に私も申請でいくつかトラブルがあり大変だった記憶があります。しかし、ビザ申請の完了という明確な目標があるので最後までやりきる力なども付くと思います。今回はここまでにします。次回は「都市選びと海外生活」です。

Introduction
Hello, I am Eiji Hashimoto, a third-year student in the Department of Global Tourism. Are you interested in Canada or other countries overseas?

I took a year off from university and went on a working holiday to Canada. I’m writing this blog for those of you who want to go on a working holiday or those who want to go abroad but don’t know how. Of course, nowadays, you can find anything if you search, so I’d like to provide more in-depth information, including both the good and bad points. However, what I am about to write is only one student's view based on my own experience among various ways of doing things. Please understand that what I am about to write is not the official view of the Department of Global Tourism at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.

What Exactly is a Working Holiday?
A working holiday is a type of visa required to enter a foreign country. Other options include work visas and student visas. A student visa allows you to enroll in a country’s universities or language schools, but in most cases, you cannot work. Without substantial savings, it can be difficult to live for even a year in a foreign country where the cost of living is higher than in Japan. On the other hand, a work visa allows you to work full-time, but if your goal is to learn English, it may be a tough choice since you might not be hired due to less-than-perfect communication skills. There are, of course, many exceptions.

One of the characteristics of working holiday visas is their high degree of freedom compared to other visas. They are issued once per country to people aged 18 to 30. Working holidays are available in English-speaking countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland, as well as in non-English-speaking countries such as Germany and France. However, it is not available for the United States because they do not offer a working holiday visa.

Study Abroad Agent
When applying for a working holiday visa, most people ask a study abroad agent (I’ll just use the word “agent” from here) to handle the application on their behalf. However, I do not recommend using an agent because they charge a large amount in brokerage fees. I paid for everything myself, including visas, airline tickets, and housing. A Japanese friend I met there told me that the total cost, including visa fees, overseas insurance, and travel expenses, was around 1 million yen. However, doing it on my own, the visa fee was about 30,000 yen, travel expenses were about 150,000 yen each way, and insurance costs were minimal, totaling around 180,000 yen.

Of course, relying on an agent makes going abroad easier since there is almost nothing to do on your own. However, if you are going to study English like me, it might be a good idea to obtain the visa yourself. By searching on the internet and completing the process on your own, you will gain self-confidence and the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself.

It is difficult, and I remember having some problems with the application and struggling. However, since you have the clear goal of completing your visa application, you will have the determination to see it through to the end. That's all for now. The next topic that I’ll cover will be "City Selection and Living Abroad."

皆さん、こんにちは。グローバル観光学科2年次生の河原のどかです。暖かい日が多くなり、外に出歩くのも気持ちよくなってきましたね。今回は大学で紹介されてい たUK English Program を利用し、2月の中旬にイギリスへ短期留学に行った経験をお伝えします。

私自身、初の海外渡航、そして記憶上、初の飛行機搭乗でした。ドバイ経由でロンドンへ着くルートで合計約20時間かかりましたが、機内食も美味しく、映画も音楽も楽しめて好きな時に寝られるということが初心者の私には最高で、空の旅を純粋に楽しめました。

現地ではEF International Language Campusesという語学学校に通い、エクアドルやチリ、ベネズエラ、サウジアラビア、フランスなどの国々出身の16歳から26歳くらいまでの方たちと共に授業を受けました。授業中に各々が先生に呼びかけ、分からない点や疑問をクラスと共有する点や、授業中に歌い出したり、踊ったりする点が日本とは違い、新鮮で興味深く感じました。また、アニメの影響で日本に興味をもってくれた方が多く、会う度に「オゲンキデスカ？」と聞いてくれたり、逆にクラスメイトに母国語を教えてもらえたりと文化交流がたくさんできたのは国際色豊かな語学学校の利点だと思います。

私はおばあさんと大型犬、老猫が暮らすお宅でお世話になりました。ホストマザーは私を孫のように可愛がってくださり、毎晩美味しい夕食と共に、今日の出来事を共有し、日本とイギリスの文化の違いやお互いの家族のことなどを話し、あたたかい時間を過ごしました。語学学校での生活もありましたが、ホストマザーが私と話す時間をたくさん設けてくれたおかげで、リスニング力のアップを実感できました。

放課後は学校周辺のイーストボーンで過ごすだけでなく、ハリーポッターのロケ地にもなったセブン・シスターズや隣町のブライトン、土日には学校のバスツアーで世界遺産のストーンヘンジ、古代ローマ時代から続く温泉地のバース 、同じくハリーポッターのロケ地があり、有名大学が並ぶオックスフォードへ行きました。友達とロンドンへ2日行き、ビックベン、バッキンガム宮殿などへも行きました 。忙しなくイギリスを観光しましたが、まだまだ行きたいところがあり、時間が足りないと感じました。本当に充実した3週間で、クラスメイトやホストファミリーとの別れはとても辛かったです。また会えた時にたくさん会話ができるよう、語学の勉強により励みたいです。

Greetings everyone! My name is Nodoka Kawahara, and I am a second-year student enrolled in the Global Tourism program at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. With the arrival of spring, I wanted to share my recent experience of participating in a short-term study abroad program in the UK during mid-February. This was made possible through the UK English Program, which KUFS makes available to its students.

This was my first trip overseas, and I vividly remember the excitement of boarding an airplane for the first time, which took me to London via Dubai, totaling a 20-hour flight. Despite the long hours, the flight was enjoyable, with delicious food, great entertainment options, and the freedom to sleep whenever I wanted - perfect for a novice traveler like myself.

I attended EF International Language Campuses, where I interacted with fellow students from countries such as Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and France, among others, aged between 16 to 26. It was a unique experience for me to witness students regularly asking questions and sharing their doubts during class, singing and dancing, which differed from the more reserved behavior we have in Japan. It was fascinating to learn how many of the students developed an interest in Japanese culture through anime, and they would often greet me with "Ogenki desuka?" when we met. Being part of an international language school allowed us to learn about diverse cultures and engage in cultural exchanges.

I stayed with a kind host family, including a grandmother, a large dog, and an old cat. My host mother treated me like her own grandchild, and we shared dinner every night, discussing our day-to-day experiences, cultural differences between Japan and England, and our families. It was a heartwarming experience, and my listening skills improved significantly through my conversations with my host mother.

During my free time, I explored the Eastbourne area around the school, visited Seven Sisters, which featured in Harry Potter movies, and the nearby town of Brighton. On weekends, I joined a school bus tour to visit various locations such as Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bath, a spa resort since Roman times, Oxford, which has many famous universities and is also a location featured in Harry Potter. I also spent two days in London, where I visited iconic landmarks such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. Although we were busy sightseeing in England, there were still many places I wished to visit, and the trip ended too soon.

Overall, it was a fulfilling three weeks, and it was hard to bid farewell to my classmates and host family. I am motivated to work harder on my language studies so that I can have meaningful conversations with my newfound friends in the future.