Student Lounge (Shelby)

One place that I go almost every day of the week is the student lounge in the center for international education on campus. The room is large, with many chairs, tables, and couches, and a large wall in the back showing the time for various places of the world. International students and native Japanese students alike come to the lounge to hang out, do homework, recruit people for events, or take naps. Some people even use the building next to the lounge, where there are large, reflective windows, to practice dancing. I, personally, like to watch them sometimes while I’m there.

People use it as a mutual meeting ground when they need to meet up with someone or get a group together because almost everyone knows where it is. Often times, the Japanese students who are not part of the study abroad prep program go to the lounge to find students that can help them correct their English homework or help them with a project. I’ve been approached by several girls who have asked me to help them correct papers or understand a part of their class reading. Just recently, I was asked by a trio of students in a Japanese linguistics group to help them with a project where they have to teach someone ten Japanese words, so they decided that they would teach me ten words of the Kansai dialect. I was also asked by a few people if I was interested in participating in field trips or volunteer activities.

Volunteer Opportunity Flier from Last Week

The student lounge provides a unique dynamic on the campus, as it is not an exclusive area for international students or students who want to study and it’s not a place where there are any particular set of expectations. People are loud, they play games, do homework, nap, or just do whatever they want to do. Japanese students seem to go there to hang out with other Japanese students rather than to meet international students, which I find surprising, as it’s probably one of the most densely populated places in terms of where international students go. And, as someone who has the chance to sit in the lounge for extended periods of time, mainly over lunch, it’s interesting to see the amount of people who come to the lounge to eat lunch. As soon as lunch is over, the room quickly empties and becomes incredibly quiet. And even then, when people are in class or eating lunch, there’s almost always people dancing outside.