The international community at Harvard University adds another dimension to the educational experience. The diverse network allows for the views of students to be challenged and debated along a wide range of perspectives. To help international students settle in, Harvard runs a Freshman International Program (FIP) in August before the start of classes.
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My name is Reona Matsumoto and, as you might gather from my name, I am Japanese. I usually introduce myself in the following way: “I’m Reona. Yeah, like Rihanna but with an O.”
I was born in Singapore, and grew up mostly in Tokyo, apart from a few years spent in Shanghai because of my father’s job. I have spent most of my life in Asia and this is my first time here in the UK, for my year abroad in London.
Before starting university, I had been estranged from my parents for nearly five years. However, I did not realise the “technical” term for my family situation until I began to fill out my student finance application.
Because of the situation I was in, applying for finance was difficult and involved sending off various letters and evidence about my living situation. This caused problems as the reasons for my estrangement were different for each parent – my father has never been in my life and my mother passed away when I was 14.
As a graduate of several programmes in the UK I know how much the academic environment can shape the way you feel and behave in those formative years.
My campus universities offered a placid pace of life and a sense of community, while the city counterparts, if isolating at times, offered adventure and diversity. Here I reflect on the different lifestyles I experienced at the two types of institution.
A decade ago, creativity was at the bottom of the top 10 skills wish list but today it is near the top. This growth in demand for creative skills and design skills across what Design Council terms the "design economy" has been revealed through its forthcoming ground-breaking research "Designing a Future Economy: Developing design skills for productivity and innovation".
The past month has been a lot of work for me. It’s coming up to exam time and with that, of course, comes the inevitable stress, feeling like you never have enough time to do what you need, and for me, the consumption of many sugary sweets. Hey, your brain runs on glucose, right?
Last week, I headed back to my old university (the University of Reading) to talk to some students about some of the biggest issues that they face today.
I met with a panel of second- and third-year students, and we chatted about pretty much everything that comes under the umbrella of student life: accommodation, studying, socialising and finance.
I had been planning to write about something else this month – something more politically charged. But then I had a bad day, one packed with frustrations, where you feel like you can’t do anything and nothing much gets done. So I thought I’d write about that instead.
It was a cold, bright Wednesday morning. If this was a novel, it would have been a gloomy and bitter day, the perfect scene for failure and disappointment. Instead the day was fresh, the sky was blue, and crispy leaves were strewn about the pavements: it resembled the backdrop I would choose for a happier experience.
I’m halfway through my first semester in New York and midterm season is finally over until the spring. I can now take some time to reflect on the classes that I have taken over the past three months.
On a typical Wednesday morning I emerged from my dorm, after a long night of studying. I was jarred out of my sleepiness by a chorus of shouts sounding across the yard: “It’s Bernie Sanders!”