Studying abroad at Macquarie University with wonderful people and environment

30 Dec 2023

How I am wrapping up 10-month studying abroad in one page of this website

Every month (Feb-Nov) during the study abroad, I had to write a monthly report to my home university. I now have a nice summary of my study abroad, but each piece is still pretty long. I condensed each month into a few paragraphs to make it readable 😉

As the title says I want to especially spotlight “people” whom I met during the study abroad 🤓

February

I was a juvenile guy who had just arrived at the Sydney Airport. I should have been more cautious about my surroundings in a foreign country, but I left my phone in a van that sent me from a hotel to the airport. I thanked the van driver for returning my phone to the hotel staff so I could pick it up.

Starting a journey

March

I was getting used to my Australian life and started talking with other students at my dormitory. Somehow I tended to bump into older people like those doing their master’s degrees. Because of that I had a lot of chances to chat about academic stuff and philosophical stuff…stuff…stuffed talk.

My original intention for studying abroad was to allow myself time when I can contemplate my future research. Meeting those people was the first time I introduced my research interests to someone new to hearing them. I remember how challenging it was to convert my thoughts into language…but how thankful it was to have those who helped me with forming a comprehensive language that expresses my interests 🙏🏽

Friends who helped me (hopefully each other) to form ideas through out studying abroad + they are much more than that 😁

April

I had two types of interactions in April. One was very academically skilled and the other was like a thing of humanity–let me explain more in a moment. There were regular meetings when I joined a student society of the Cognitive and Brain Science department at Macquarie University. One of the meetings I joined was about how well scholars organise numerous information as they read through research papers. I met two students who explained their techniques to comprehend and organise research papers. The way they manage information was of course my takeaway from the meeting. At the same time, it was my beginning to form more and more relationships with people in the cognitive science department and so on!

The second interaction was with my dorm mate. Sometime in April, I was so mentally empty that I needed to talk to someone somehow. I texted in a group chat of friends to see if anyone would chat with me about literally anything random. Surprisingly, one person came to talk to me with an ice cream in her hand. I remember it had been too much fun since I arrived at Macquarie University, so I was not ready to leave there having met all the good people. The person with an ice cream replied that it could be selfish if I didn’t say goodbye, thinking of all the possibilities awaiting everyone in the future. She was only two years younger than me, and what she said made sense to me so naturally 😌

Let’s organise information: a view at Macquarie University library

May

I found a snippet of my monthly report where I wrote about relationships with people. The following is the quoted paragraph.

My intangible relationships with people are difficult to value objectively as an achievement, but I would like to note them because they seem invaluable to me. Having finished half of a semester, I met fixed people more often. Among them are four types of relationships: mitigating, encouraging, catalysing, and just interesting relationship. In a mitigating relationship, a friend told me not to overthink when I go too deep into my thoughts. In an encouraging relationship, a teacher in Indigenous study encourages me to take time to think deeply and tells me that it is okay to be sensitive. In catalysing, some friends join me in discussing the tangled topics I contemplate. Last but not least, I found some relationships just interesting without specific reasons. So far, all my relationships are the balancing stones in my mentality, so having connections is an intangible achievement for me.

June

This was the last month before entering a long break between two academic semesters. I had to write some reports one of which was especially challenging. It was a report for my Indigenous study class. How is this related to “people”…? Haha, Indigenous study is about “people” as far as I learned. The culture I especially learned was Dharug and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in general. Their cultures strongly stem from human connections with one another and connections with Country–the land they/we dwell in.

I learned how “people” themselves are the cultures from readings and classes. I could not make time to meet many Indigenous people in person, but my teacher was one who taught me the embracement of the Indigenous culture. When I talked about seeing a cricket on my dorm floor with its legs damaged presumably by insecticide, I thought it was too much detail of being connected with nature or I would say feeling empathy for nature. However, the teacher told me not to forget such a feeling, for it is a vital element of connectedness between people and non-human animals and nature.

My drawing of Indigenous symbols

July

One lesson I learned this month was knowing what I do not intend to do through interaction with people. During the long break, I wanted to join a lot of events to make use of the time. One of the events I found was a workshop on brain-computer interfaces (BCI) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The workshop was quite advanced, though it was worth attending to touch on what it is like to utilise human brain signals in applied ways using technology. Besides, the workshop’s main takeaway was a conversation with one of the laboratory members who organised the event.

I was curious how much they know about the brain itself when they are developing BCI. Most of the lab members had backgrounds in computer science unlike understanding of human brain. Though understanding of the brain is necessary, they sounded like it is not much required. I was excited to be able to implement my future research using BCI, which could be, but I found it not as relevant to my interests. My research interests seemed to be inclined more to be based on scientific discovery on the human brain rather than technological development.

The workshop of BCI at UTS

August

During the long break and commencement of a new semester, I encountered several memorable people. One was a person at The University of Texas at Austin. I have not met him physically at this point (Dec. in 2023) because I have been interacting with him via email. What he and I have in common is a sense of consilience. Consilience is a notion of more or less interdisciplinary. I did not expect my email to get a reply when I first emailed him, but he was so kind to send me paragraphs of comments about my ideas on consilience. Though I do not often email him, I hope to keep in touch now too!

Another person I met this month was a lecturer of a subject in the cognitive and brain science department. He had just started a project themed interdisciplinary, and I knew that when I enrolled my units in the new semester. I approached him at the end of his lecture to be added to the project community. Thankfully, I became able to attend some of the project meetings where I gained insights into consilience from empirical experience researchers have had.

Last but not least was meeting some Christians – or they called themselves disciples – and talking about consilience. By the way the total number of being approached by religious people during my study abroad was like 10 times 😂 and I am not a Christian.

September I knew that my studying abroad was getting close to the end soon. I would say it was the most exciting and rushing time I had. Maybe I was too occupied with my tasks, or perhaps I was self-centred. When I had a conversation in a company of people, more than three people, I could hardly mingle myself in the talk. Because I was too rigid about the purpose of the conversation, I should have been more flexible about the flow of the dialogue.

There were not many new meetings with people but it was the time when I was fostering existing relationships. This month definitely led me to new opportunities I was able to take in the coming month 😆 September was my fermentation period!

Fermenting myself

October

As a result of the fermentation period, I had a thankful opportunity presented by one of the professors in the cognitive and brain science department. The professor was super supportive when I asked if there were any free tickets for students to participate in a conference – Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference Sydney, Australia. The blog about the conference is another topic (here).

One option was to be a student volunteer at the conference so that I could join any conference events for free. However, the spots were already full. I patiently waited for any chances I could take. Surprisingly one volunteer spot became available, so I had no reason but to say yes. Turned out that one student canceled the spot for some reason. Whatever the reason was, I was so glad to take the opportunity.

Yet taking the volunteering opportunity was not enough for me to participate in the conference. I had to negotiate with the international office at my home university in Japan. The professor who helped me with the volunteering also helped me with this process. She wrote a supporting letter to the office to explain why I should join the conference as a part of the studying abroad and exchange program. At the same time, my two supervisors in Japan also supported me. The outcome was not successful but it did not stop me from joining the conference. I flew back to Japan to conclude my official study abroad then went back to Australia for the conference.

All in all, the support I had from people was so great that I have not been able to express my gratitude enough towards them. I am keen to show reciprocity for the favours in the coming future!

Volunteering at the ACNS conference

Wrapping up

Finally I concluded my studying abroad in Australia. Here is an interesting conversation I had with one of the student society members. I was asked if I would miss anyone I met during my stay in Australia. My answer was “Not quite”. I thought we were still on the earth and it was not our final goodbye. I must feel like I will never see them again if I miss them. I seemed a bit contrary person at that time. But it has been true that I want to see them again as I grow up 😚

Thanks for reading how “people” were central to my 10-month experience in Australia. See you “people” somewhere sometime!!! 👍