A reality better than my expectations

弘前大学　人文学部　特別聴講学生

トゥアン・アポリンヌ（フランス）

　My name is Apolline Touin (トゥアン・アポリンヌ), a French international student at Hirosaki University. I enrolled as a special auditor for two semesters as a freshman, and started my studies in this Japanese university in October.

　I came from the Bordeaux-Montaigne University, located in Bordeaux, France. I am currently in my third year of higher education in my home university, and I am graduating in Japanese language and culture. To put it in a nutshell, I am learning the Japanese language, with its grammar and writings, and Japanese history, society, literature and arts. My degree also provide to its students to learn old Japanese and Japanese anthropology in their third year.

　The Bordeaux-Montaigne University has an agreement with the Hirosaki University since 1994, and it is thanks to this agreement that I was able to do my foreign studies here this year. I had the possibility to go to many other places, like Kumamoto, Nagoya, Tokyo, Morioka, or Niigata, but my decision led me to Hirosaki. The first time I heard its name, it was in an exposition held in the Maison du Japon (Japan's House) in Bordeaux, presenting Hirosaki and its products, like the apples, Hirosaki lacquer, the Tsugaru shamisen, and the different festivals in Hirosaki. There was also comparisons between photographs of places in Hirosaki and the representation that was made for the anime titled Flying Witch. All what I discovered during this day developed my interest for this city I didn't know about. As I was with my best friend, learning about Hirosaki's culture, we both decided we would try to go together and study here.

　My daily life here is quite different from the one I led in France. For example, I used to take a tramway to go to school. Here in Hirosaki, I ride my bike or I just walk to the university. It is quite great, because living with many other students in the international house make our paths cross when we all go to our classes or come back home. It's always fun to talk about our classes together, or to make plans for some activities together on some special days. I used to simply come back home after classes in France, so this was a big change for me.

　But the most different thing is the way the city changes my mind. Bordeaux is one big stressful city, when Hirosaki is just calm and easy to live, like most cities in Japan. This was quite surprising for me, but I loved it when I first realized it. I quickly developed a kind of routine; because I have a friend who came in Japan too as an international student in Niigata, and because we see each other twice a month, I almost immediately started walking in Hirosaki to find some great places to show them. I was quite surprised by the number of Buddhist temples and shint? shrines. I knew Hirosaki was overflowing with temples and shrines, but what I discovered when I arrived here was better than my expectations. I immediately fell in love with this town's heritage and its charm.

　Thus, what made me fully understand that Hirosaki was the ideal place to develop my interest in Japan and its culture was the course given at the university. Between Japanese classes, I could assist to lessons about the Tsugaru region's history, or Japanese literature ? which already interested me back in France ? and even tourism classes. In many field trips I had the opportunity to discover sides of Hirosaki I wouldn't have suspected the existence without my classes; I had the chance to see the Iwaki-san shrine, to have a zazen experience or even to go skiing here in Japan. Thanks to these classes I took, I have seen I only could imagine before arriving in this city, and I have the sensation that my insatiable curiosity finds satiety.

　I usually submit posts, like a blog, on my Facebook account so my family and friends can discover this side of Japan while hearing from me. I always receive comments saying how beautiful Hirosaki is, and how lucky I am to have such an experience. I only can agree with that.

　Unfortunately, my best friend with whom I wanted to come in Hirosaki couldn't make it at the same time as me. So I wanted to do my best so I could show her what awaits her when she will come one day, and because she needs information for her paperwork I am here to help her.

　And finally, because I want to share my experiences of Hirosaki and Japan with my family and friends, being here for one year gave them the opportunity to come too. All my family thought about coming in Japan to see me, and even some friends too! Because of the four wonderful months I spent here by myself, I want to show them a side of Japan they didn't suspect either, and I want them to make wonderful memories the way I am making my own myself as an international student in the prefecture of Aomori.