グループ三の二年生・「風船割り」屋台

去年と今年の学園祭

今年の大学二年生と三年生はコロナウイルスのために最も珍しい経験をしたのですね。2020〜2021学年にたくさんの人と一緒にいることが難しく、少し危険だったので、授業や学園祭などのイベントを全部オンラインでしてきました。もちろん、オンラインでも学園祭に参加することは楽しかったですが、オンラインの学園祭よりキャンパスの学園祭が断然楽しかったです。オンラインの学園祭ではカメラを使わなかった学生が多く、活動が主に高校の時にしたものと似ており、大学のイベントのような気がしませんでした。先輩達にキャンパスの学園祭についての話を教えてもらった後で、残念だと感じました。感謝して今年キャンパスの学園祭に参加できました。実際は、キャンパスよりオンラインの方がもう少し簡単でした。しかし、キャンパスで日本学科の皆と一緒に楽しめるようになったことにとても感謝しました。

Gakuen-sai (School Festival): 2021 vs 2022

This year’s second and third years have had some really strange experiences at university, due to the covid-19 pandemic. During the 2020-2021 school year, it was difficult and a bit dangerous to meet large groups of people, so events including but not limited to classes and the gakuen-sai all went online. Of course, taking part in the gakuen-sai was fun even when it was online, but hosting the gakuen-sai on campus was incomparable. Since, when it was online, there were lots of students who left their cameras off and the activities were very similar to activities we had taken part in before coming to university, it didn’t feel like a real college event. After hearing fun stories about previous years’ on-campus gakuen-sai from our upperclassmen, we couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Thankfully, this year the gakuen-sai was able to take place on-campus and in-person, as per usual. To be honest, the online gakuen-sai was actually a little bit easier to host than the on-campus gakuen-sai, as we did not need to prepare physical materials and we could host all the events from the comfort of our own home. However, despite the added difficulty, we were so grateful to be able to have the gakuen-sai on campus as it allowed us to spend time with and have fun with everyone from the Japanese department.

日本に繋ぐこと

去年のコロナウイルスの制限のために、たくさんのエジンバラ大学生にとって、他の大学生に会える機会はとても少なかったです。そのため、今年はキャンパスの学園祭でやっと日本学科の大学生だけではなく、また日本人の留学生と一緒に楽しめるようになってよかったです。日本学科の目的はエジンバラ大学生を日本に繋ぐことだと言えるのではないでしょうか。そのため、日本人の大学生と日本の文化を祝えることはとてもいいことでしたよね。

Connecting with Japan

Last year, due to coronavirus restrictions, for a lot of students at the University of Edinburgh, opportunities to meet other students were fairly few and far between. Because of these difficulties, we were so glad that we got to enjoy the campus gakuen-sai with not just other students from the Japanese department but also students from Japan on their year abroad. It can be said that the purpose of the Japanese department is to connect University of Edinburgh students to Japan. For that reason, being able to celebrate Japanese culture with university students from Japan is a very good thing, isn’t it?

一年生と二年生としての違い

去年私達が学園祭に参加する方法は一年生として分からないことの一つでした。一年中、日本語の授業に参加してみればみるほど、学園祭の開催の方法や良い学生になる方法などが分かるようになりました。それで、今年は先輩として後輩を手伝えて嬉しかったです。私達も大学の怖さと大変さをよく知っていたので、後輩を頑張って手伝いました。

Differences in Experience: as a First-year vs as a Second-year

Last year, participating in the gakuen-sai was just one of many things we had some trouble understanding as first-years. Throughout the year, we began to understand how to do things like participate in the gakuen-sai and become good students, by actively trying to take part in Japanese classes and related events. Since we understood this well, this year we were happy to be able to help our underclassmen as their upperclassmen. When we were first years, we had to deal with the same difficulties so we were aware of just how scary and difficult the first year at university could be, which made us work harder to provide support for our fellow students.

インタビューで日本の祭りや伝統について探したもの

祭りについてのインタビューをした時に全ての日本大学生は七夕祭りが思い浮かんだと言いました。そして、たいてい葵祭などの具体的な祭りの代わりに桜祭りや花火祭りなどの全般的な祭りを思い浮かべているようでした。

Things We Learned About Japanese Traditions and Festivals Through the Interviews

When we conducted interviews about Japanese festivals, all the Japanese students said that Tanabata Matsuri came to mind. In addition, it was usually vaguer festivals like cherry blossom festivals or firework festivals, rather than specific festivals like Aoi Matsuri, that seemed to come to their minds.

私達の経験

この経験は私達にとても特別な思い出を与えてくれました。学園祭の日だけの経験ではなくて、学園祭の準備をしたこともインタビューをしたことも素晴らしい経験でした。同級生と準備したり、後輩を手伝ったり、皆と一緒に楽しんだりした思い出は簡単に忘れられることではないでしょう。

皆さん、来年エジンバラ大学の学園祭に来られれば、ぜひ来てみてください！私達と同じで、大切な思い出を作れることを願っています。

Our Experience

This experience has given us very special memories. Outside of the day of the festival itself, there were various days, such as those spent preparing for the event and interviewing students, that culminated in this beautiful experience. We won’t easily forget preparing with classmates, helping our underclassmen, and enjoying the gakuen-sai altogether.

If you ever get the chance to come to the University of Edinburgh’s gakuen-sai, make sure to come by and check it out! We hope that, like us, you’ll be able to make precious memories.