"Samu language school" in 2012

Students of the faculty of world economy and international affairs went to the "Samu language school" in Tokyo in July for 1 month.  

The three of us went to the "Samu language school" in Tokyo in July and stayed there for about a month.  http://gaku.ru/schools/samu.html

All procedures of choosing a school, housing and so on were implemented through Gaku.Ru, but without the help of an agency. We have chosen everything ourselves, contacted the host party by mail, completed all necessary forms on the website, and bought the plane tickets… In about a week after that, they sent us all documents and the invitation letter (to apply for a visa) by airmail. Everything was arranged very quickly and without any problems. The only thing I would like to mention is that it is better to find a housing in advance, 2 months before the trip or even earlier, because everything for the summer became reserved quickly.

The next day after the check-in in dormitory (I’ve chosen the one in Tokyo, Ikebukuro district) we came to the school to write the test to determine our language knowledge level. It took about an hour; the test was divided into several parts with a gradual complication of vocabulary and grammar. Anyway, as a whole it was not really difficult and our level was defined quite objectively. There were only Asian and Russian students in the school (our class, for example, was half Korean, half Russian). Our group classes were held in the first half of the day (~ 8:30 – 12:00), and the rest of the day we spent walking around the city, without any particular program. We also went once to the sea in Kamakura by a suburban train and in the Museum of animation film studio Ghibli.

We have enjoyed our life in Tokyo so much we actually did not want to return. Although it was difficult to understand spoken language and we lacked everyday vocabulary, we were able to have small talks and to say something about ourselves, or, for instance, ask for a direction, which was very useful. The Japanese talked to us gladly and tried to help us by all possible means. Sometimes we went for a nomikai with our class, which was extremely fun. Tokyo is a very attractive city, the unusual combination of Japan’s historical heritage (Asakusa, Ueno) and modern urban buildings and rows of skyscrapers (Odaiba, Roppongi), and it was a pleasure to walk there. I am sure I will come there again, hopefully many times.