24 August 2012 Fri.
Good View, but No Light
From the window of my room, I can see a good scenery with the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge and riverside highways. At the same time I found a surprising fact; there is no light in my room on the ceiling(even though I can find a light switch by the door!). Anyway, I have to ask a dormitory officer about that, or buy many room light instead.
Get a Key of the Dorm
After getting up, I went to the housing office to make a lease. With other students, I attended the orientation about housing. The officer spoke so fast and I was hasten to fil in the paper and make many signature. Although I didn’t have any problem this time, I felt a little nervous by imaging the classes starting from September… Anyway, I got the key!
Our campus, Columbia University Medical Center contains several schools (School of Public Health, Medical School etc.), and women students seem to be a majority. At the session of housing orientation I attended, all of the students (about 10 this time) except me were ladies.
ISSO Orientation – Dominant Chinese! Few Japanese?
Going down to the main campus of Columbia University 122th street, I visited the ISSO (International Students and Scholars Office) to attend the orientation for the international students. But the office was closed. Oh, the orientation is at the Alfred Lerner Hall. When I visited the closed office I met a international student from Taiwan, talked about this situation and walked together to the Hall. we had about an hour before the orientation, we talked with each other for a time (home countries and cities, majors, and works…).
At the Lerner Hall the orientation for international students by ISSO started on 1:30p.m., and after that, ISSO held a welcome party for us at the restaurant near the hall. The contents of orientation itself was not so special; general information and guideline about our study, but what surprised me was how many Chinese students were here! I show you a amazing figures about the Columbia University;
For the 2011-2012 Academic Year, there are 6,536 enrolled students.
International Students by Region
Africa 2.6%
Asia 54.6%
Europe 22.3%
Latin America and the Caribbean 8.2%
Middle East 3.6%
North America 7.2%
Oceania 1.7%Top Five Countries of Origin: Students
China 1,731
South Korea 586
India 541
Canada 484
France 224International Enrollment by program of Study
Bachelor’s 12.9%
Master’s 57.4%
Doctoral 19.9%
Professional 2.6%
Nondegree 3.7%
Intensive English 3.6%(Figures from the handout of the orientation)
Wow, how dominant the Chinese is!! Not only for Chinese, most of the international students were those from Asian countries (South Korea, India, Singapore etc.) On the other hand, during the orientation and the party I rarely found and met the Japanese students(finally I met only two women Japanese friends with whom I had already contacted in Japan). Actually I don’t care about that (whether majority or minority, each person is an only one and I just see and communicate with each one person), though I was a little surprised with this gap of the numbers. Anyway, the party was fun.
ーー日本語ーー
2012年8月24日(金)
眺めは良いが…
寮の部屋からの眺めは実に良い。ハドソン川とジョージ・ワシントン橋がすぐに目の前。川沿いを道路が走る。
しかし驚くべきことに、天井に電球がひとつもついていない。ドア脇にスイッチはあるのだが…夜帰ってきても暗くて何も出来ない。ひとまず寮官に聞いてみるが、これがデフォなら間接証明をたくさん買わないといけない…
サイン、サイン、サイン…！
Housing Officeで入寮説明を受ける。担当のおばちゃんがなんかこう、まくしたてるような英語で話すもんだから、焦る。なんとかついていけたが、来月からの授業が少し心配になる。まぁがんばろう。ひとまず鍵を入手。ところで、このMedical Centerキャンパスー医学部とか公衆衛生のスクールがある、なんだけど、女性の方がマジョリティっぽい印象。このセッション僕以外全員女性(少し話した隣の席の子、超美人)。
石を投げれば中国人に当たる。
午後はISSO(International Students and Scholars Office)のオリエンテーションへ。間違えてオフィスへ行ったが閉まっていて、オリエンはAlfred Lerner Hallという場所で行うそうな。そこで出会った台湾からの留学生と一緒に歩き、空き時間やオリエン・パーティー中によく話した。
しかし驚くべきは中国人留学生の数よ。上記英語文章中に内訳を記載したので見ていただきたいが、留学生の1/4以上が中国人である。なんともはや。石を投げれば誰かしらに当たるレベルである。この日出会った日本人はわずかに2人、それもフルブライトの渡米前オリエンテーションで事前にコンタクトがあった2人である。この日のオリエンは大学院生以上が対象のはずだから、学部はさすがにもう少しいるかもしれないが、それにしても少ない。まぁ、個人的には気にならないのだけど、しかし単純にこの数の差には驚いた。米国MBA帰りのビジネスマンやブロガーなんかが、帰国後になんかこう義憤にかられて「もっと世界に出ろ！」って学生に発破をかけたくなる気持ちも分からんでもない(あのノリはあまり好きではないが)。