With two cultures in mind, one student meets diversity and friendship at Waseda's WID dormitory. A wide variety of episodes experienced during dormitory life, such as the role of RA, interaction through origami, and the joy of joint learning.Her perspective explores how multiculturalism affects individuals and communities.

There are people from many different countries and many different languages.I saw a special feature on Waseda's portal site and wondered what RA was.That's when I started to get interested.It wasn't until I learned that I was a residence assistant in a dormitory that I realized the existence of WID.I entered the dormitory from the third year, but until then I had to commute from my parents' house in Saitama prefecture about two hours.Since I'm a law student, I'm forced to buy books like the Six Laws, but it's hard to carry that heavy luggage and get on a crowded train in the morning in time for the first period...From the spring of my sophomore year, all of my classes changed to online due to the coronavirus, but when I spend all my time with my family in the living room of my parents' house, the number of fights increases.When I was thinking about moving out of my parent's house, I saw that portal site and thought it would be fun to live in a dormitory.

It's my personality, including my complex

Originally, my mother went to Waseda as an exchange student, and I met my father there.Waseda is a big part of my family.Her mother was also a law student, so she entered the same department.I use Russian all the time at home, and my lifestyle is also Russian, but when I go out, I always feel uneasy, thinking, "Is this really okay?"But at WID, there are people from many different countries and many different languages, so I no longer feel that anxiety.I was very shy, but all the dormitory students were good people, and I was trained at RA. There is an RA senior who is very bright, and I think it's amazing that he doesn't hide what he's not good at and is open about it.I was encouraged by the fact that it was my personality, including my complex.

Exchange was born through origami

Recently, I've been into origami.Originally, I was folding them as gifts for the welcome parties of international students, but when I was folding them in the lounge, some people asked me, "What's that?"Origami was the catalyst for exchange.Also, in online classes, I can't concentrate if I'm just listening, but I can concentrate while folding.I think it can be used as a tool as well.Also, I'm working part-time at a cram school, and it's really fun when the kids talk to me about things that happened at school.Among them, there is a child who is very good at studying, but I sometimes ask him "How are you studying?" (laughs).

Look at my friend studying in the lounge

I have a friend in the dormitory who is studying to become an FP (financial planner) or an accountant.At Waseda, you can take a variety of subjects, but if you ask your teacher about specialized subjects that aren't open subjects, they'll let you audit them.I have decided to go on to graduate school, and since I can stay at Waseda for another two years, I would like to study something other than law.Entrepreneurship, volunteer work, international peace activities... There are so many things I'm interested in, it's hard to choose.

(Photograph: Satoshi Shirahama / Text: Yoko Oike / Interview: Yasuhiro Nishi)