Every time I travel somewhere, I find something new. On the Portland, Oregon tour, I learned a lot of important things. The purpose is studying America, so I learned about American university or college, American history and American war. I take classes at MFWI to study these aspects of American culture but I reconsidered these things more deeply and found new interests. The places which are particularly impressive to me are Reed College, The Columbia River Gorge Discovery Museum which featured Lewis and Clark and The Japanese American Memorial.
First of all, Reed College is the most independent school I have ever heard of. There are many systems and principles. One of them is an honor system. Students can take exams anywhere. When I heard this information, I wasn’t sure whether what I was hearing was correct or not because I’ve never heard of such an unbelievable thing. This shows teachers trust students and students trust each other. The Honor system is for students to be honest. Seemingly, it sounds easy but actually it is not. Reed College utilizes a wonderful system. The college stimulated me to study abroad.
Second, I learned interesting American history. This time is about Lewis and Clark and West Coast Indians. Through the south west trip, I can compare South West Indians and North West Indians. Fortunately, I researched Sacagawea last semester, so I could understand what happened to North West Indians and Lewis and Clark’s trip easily. At the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, I listened to the staff speaking. I learned more deeply how Lewis and Clark succeeded in their journey and how other members spent their life on the journey. I really enjoyed studying American history and I’m getting curious as to American background.
Last, one of the unforgettable memories is Japanese-American Memorial. It is an outside gallery. It is special to me because I felt something there were emphasized Japanese-American. There are rough rocks on which haiku were printed in English. By reading haiku, I understood how they lived at that time and how they felt. Even these rough rocks represent Japanese-Americans. The hope that this memorial has is to remember what happened to Japanese-Americans. I think not only Japanese but also all people regardless any nationalities should go there in order to not forget the terrible war.
Looking back on this trip, I studied hard with many joys. Visiting Reed College let me be curious about American college and through learning American history; I also want to study Japanese history more to see Japan from another country’s perspective and to compare both histories. In addition, I rethought war by seeing the Japanese-American memorial. Now that I study abroad in America, I felt I took a moderate stand between Japan and America. What I experienced on this trip will lead me to a new way of thinking.