November in US

I have been studying in the United States since August 2024, and more than three months have passed. There is only a little time left this year, and we are now in December. My life as a student in the United States has passed in the blink of an eye, and looking back, I feel that it has been filled with various learnings and experiences. While I felt that I achieved many results academically in December, next semester I would like to use the winter break to increase my input time so that I can use more English phrases. This month, I had final exams and projects, so I especially put effort into time management and efficient study methods. I would like to make use of these experiences in my future studies.

Coursesw and Learning

Foundations in Writing
Class time: Mon, Wed, Fri 9:20-10:15

The final presentation of this course was about important perspectives and methods in analyzing literary works and films. In the presentation, I dealt with the issue of medical discrimination, which I learned in the Race class. I tried to make my presentation as concise and easy to understand as possible so that others could understand it. Also, at the beginning, I was very worried about whether I would be able to keep up with the classes, but with the help of my teacher and friends in the same class, I managed to get through it.

Intro to Sociology
Class time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:30-11:25

The most memorable part of this month's chapter was about criminology and sociology. Crime statistics in the United States are collected as the "Uniform Crime Report (UCR)", and there is a lot of data on violent crimes and property crimes, and many minor crimes such as drug violations and drunk driving are also reported, but how the media reports on them changes the way the world moves. I was also surprised to learn that the power of the police is stronger than in Japan. In the past, there was an incident where a black man was assaulted by an American police officer because the police had too much power. This content was also learned in anthropology, so I was able to get a glimpse of the connection between sociology and anthropology. My friend is a Criminal Justice (Faculty of Law), and he said that he learned this chapter on the fusion of criminology and sociology in a class at the Faculty of Law.

Race, Science, and Human Variation
Class time: Mon, Wed, Fri 11:40-12:35

This month, we dealt with the issue of racism among police officers mentioned above. In addition, with the final group presentation coming up, our group researched and delved deeper into medical racism. In particular, I read papers from the library and Googlescalar to see if there were any sustainable solutions to medical discrimination, and analyzed the economic effects of reducing medical racism through medical tourism in Cyprus and financial assistance to rural medical care in some parts of China. Rather than looking at racism from a humanitarian perspective, I deliberately tried to think about anthropology from an economic perspective. For this presentation, I read a lot of English papers, which was difficult, but I got into the habit of citing foreign papers.

International Students Seminar

This month's International Students Seminar included group work. The theme was "drop a raw egg from a height of 5 meters with limited materials without it cracking," and we got together outside of class to work on it and go shopping, which helped us to deepen our friendship as a group. There were people from many different countries and with many different personalities, so it was a class that felt very diverse. At the end, we all presented what we learned in this class.

International Economics
Class time: Online

What I learned through this class is the importance of applying knowledge of macroeconomics and microeconomics to actual economic phenomena. By analyzing and understanding the US economic trends using AD-AS analysis and learning theories such as the liquidity trap, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how the economic policies of developing and developed countries affect the overall economy. I finished the test last month and managed to get through it! It was the most difficult class, but I would like to try a 4000-level lecture next semester. My friend said that the finance lecture he took this semester used economic calculations and was difficult, but fun, so I plan to try the 4000-level in finance as well!

Leisure

Nashville

I went sightseeing in Nashville from November 25th to December 1st. In the US, there is a week-long holiday called Thanksgivings, so I was able to relax before the test. Nashville is a country music town, and as a music lover, I was able to spend a very meaningful time here. I also stayed at a friend's house for a little while, and was able to do a homestay, which I had always wanted! If I have a day off, I would like to go to Nashville again!

Atlanta

I went sightseeing in Atlanta from December 6th to December 8th. It was a big city with heavy traffic, which was a lot of fun. The Atlanta airport was so big that I almost got lost. I also had the opportunity to have dinner with a Japanese acquaintance who lives in Atlanta, which was fun. He is a representative of a Japanese machinery manufacturer and works in Atlanta on a five-year contract, which was a good experience for me to think about my future.

Extracurricular activities

I did a job shadow at the TN Department of Environment & Conservation. This month, I accompanied the person in charge as a trainee about water management in Tennessee. I also visited the city's water department and learned about water sanitation and management methods, emergency response, partner organizations, and how to collaborate with other cities and states. PFAS was previously a major issue in the United States, so in recent years there has been a strong focus on hygiene management, with regular checks being essential, he said.