Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Hi guys!

Today I'm going to tell you about my University: Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, which is Ritsumeikan APU in short. Ritsumeikan APU is a private University which is the 'sister university' of the famous Ritsumeikan University Kyoto. This University is located at the mountains of Beppu, Japan. Here's what the University looks like:

Source: Instagram (@avilacarlo)

Source: http://www.universityinterchange.com/ritsumeikan-asia-pacific-university-apu/media

So, probably you're wondering: "What's a Beppu?" or "Where is it?".

Beppu is the name of a small city located at Oita Prefecture, in Kyushu Island. Kyushu itself is located at the southern part of Japan, so it's actually quite far from the famous cities such as Tokyo and Osaka (so don't expect me to post photos of Disneyland or Universal Studio Japan after this ok?). To give you a better understanding about where Kyushu is, let me give you an overview map of Japan:

Source: http://kyushu-japan-holidays.com/kyushu-guide.html

Beppu City itself is located right between the sea and the mountains so the wind is really strong here. And.., Ritsumeikan APU itself is not located at the downtown city of Beppu, but rather up high in the mountains of Beppu, so you can see a really amazing view from this University. Here's the city of Beppu from the University:

Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/101658588

Beppu is also famous for its hot springs, so there a lot of tourist from domestic and international who came here to relax. I'll write later about hot springs. Well it's a little bit isolated from all the city entertainments, but that what makes this campus so lively and fun because everyone is focused on studying and making new friends from all around the world. Wait, all around the world?

Ritsumeikan APU is actually very famous because of its multicultural environment where almost half of the student body is compromised of international students! Their fundamental principles are: Freedom, Peace and Humanity, International Mutual Understanding, and the Future Shape of Asia Pacific Region, so you can really feel that you're at the center of the world here with so many international students. This is the another reason why I applied for Ritsumeikan APU, because meeting lots of international students with different languages and cultures is an experience that you cannot get anywhere else.

Here classes are offered in two languages: Japanese and English, so you if you don't understand a thing about Japanese language, you can still take the classes fine. But of course, since you're in Japan you should learn Japanese too!

Now about the academic aspect. I'm taking the 2-years of MBA program in the Graduate School of Management right now. They have some specializations that we can choose in the MBA program including: Japanese Management, Marketing and Management, Finance and Accounting, and finally Innovation and Operations Management. I'm enrolling in Marketing and Management specialization because I really liked marketing and I'm passionate about learning lots of new things from the professors here.

Currently the classes are yet to begin because Japanese academic calendar divides the year into two: the Spring Semester (starts on April 1) and the Fall Semester (starts on October 1) but I have lots of orientation workshops to attend. So far so good, I'm gonna like it here.

So to end this post, here's a picture of me together with my friends:

Caption: Graduate School Life! I'm the one wearing a Charmander shirt.

This picture was taken today after the orientations. The wind was pretty strong, but we had fun. There are three nationalities present here: Indonesia, Thailand, and Mongolia.

That's for today's post guys.
Next time I'll post about my dorm: AP House.

Thanks for reading!