I was fortunate enough to participate in a program organized by Kyoto University in Japan, along with its partner universities. It was a short term international program on Resilient Society Development under Changing Climate.
Although the course was for one month, I had enough memories to last a whole life. My first visit to Japan was possible through this course and I found that Japan is an awesome country. People are honest and very hard working. No wonder the country took a very fast pace in development even after it was bombed in the second world war. I went to Kyoto, the old capital city and it reflected the heritages of Japan. Besides cleanliness, I especially liked the foods and respectful culture of Japanese.
The course was a memorable one not only because of the beautiful country Japan but also because of the friends that I got accompanied by. I got to make friends from different countries, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Pakistan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Sudan, Vietnam, and Myanmar, and I had a lot to learn from them.
The time, however, was very limited, just a month and in that period, classes occupied most of the time, but the good aspect was that there was enough group discussion so we had time to interact with each other. The conversation, however, could be done only in a fixed topic assigned to us. There were assignments too, which occupied another 2-3 hrs. The remaining time, we spend on sightseeing around Kyoto and the bonding we developed through traveling together is a feeling that I cannot describe in mere words. Those feelings just beg for a little more time.
After 14 days in Japan, with around 4 days in transit, the program continued on Kasetsart University, Bangkok. It’s the university that I am currently studying and it felt like welcoming them to my home. There were relatively fewer assignments in this session, so we had a lot of time to spend with each other. I will be missing many things from each of my 41 friends. Thinking specifically, I’ll be missing interesting questions from Ruben, teaching useful Thai words to Kyosuke, silly jokes of Quan, visit plans from Nicky, Ming, Mee, and Tam, intellectual talks with Gundai, red face of Wu when drunk, photography guidance from Ting, singing with Tiger, amazing photo poses from Keita, Kyoto city trip by Naoki, the craziness of Ryo Kobayashi, the great accent of Suuu, drunken talks with my friends and many more. The hustle and bustle of going into class at 9 a.m. which seemed too early just because you slept very late the night before is something I shall not forget. The funniest thing of all was watching some of my friends asleep in the class as their head swings with eyes closed, rhythmic with their sleep, which they were devoid of.
Last night in Bangkok was awesome. It was awesome for me because we had a beer and in the end, we sang. Unfortunately, not everyone could join the singing club as it was late already and most of them had returned back. The first song began with, “See you again” of Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth from Kyosuke and then everyone joined. Then song turned to “Something just like this” by Chainsmoker ft. Coldplay and then to “Lazy Songs” by Bruno Mars, and few more.
Just like everything that starts has to end, our meeting also had to end. One month passed by, quite soon, and I am writing this with imprinted memories left in my head. The memories are fresh now; its hangover is so strong and with many things happening in life it will slowly subside. However, I want this to stay with me forever and is the reason why I blogged after 569 days so that when I return back to my blog and read this post, I will relive these memories and these good feelings will flow across again.
Lastly, Thank you guys for making this short-course a memorable one. All of you are awesome. I hope that our paths shall cross at least once more. Then, we shall cherish these memories and make new ones again. Cheers!!! All the best to you all, creative minds and beautiful souls.