Studying in Japan has been the best decision I have made regarding to my personal education. Being a student of Tohoku University, I have received an opportunity that I might not be able to get if I would have joined another university. Especially by joining the Advanced Molecular Chemistry (AMC) course, I received the opportunity to join a world-class research institute, the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advance Material (IMRAM), where I got to learn many things about world-class research. Not only to learn about the research, this course also offers us to join their research. For an example, during the vacations, I am allowed to participate in one of the IMRAM Laboratories to learn about various researches. This opportunity also increases my interest in science even further. Actually, I have been interested in science and research since I was in junior high school, this interest brought me to participate in some Olympiads for scientific research and won several medals as Indonesian representative when I was in high school (total of 1 Gold medal, 1 Silver medal, 4 Bronze medals, and 1 Honorable Mention). Thanks to this achievement, I was also awarded "Satya Lancana Wirakarya" by the President of Indonesia, which is the highest award that is only awarded to student that has won Gold Medal in International Olympiad.
Aside from my overwhelming excitement to go to Japan, I used to worry about how I will communicate, since the only Japanese I know is: "Konnichiwa, sushi, ramen, and karate". However, my worry was proven to be wrong since Tohoku University has a lot of international students and even most of the Japanese friends I first met were capable of speaking English. This made my study in Tohoku University much easier than I thought it would be. Now, I think that my daily life here is really convenient. Though busy from educational activity I can still enjoy weekends with friends, travelling, and other activity to take a break from lectures.Lastly, I think that it is a great opportunity for an undergraduate student like me, learning in World-class facilities and environment. I am really proud to be a student of Tohoku University and eager to contribute to my country afterwards.