Interview with Interns from Meiji Gakuin University

2019/11/12 Janell Lau

This summer, 2 exchange students from Meiji Gakuin University joined us as interns in our 10-week Internship Program. Samantha and Steven are from University of California Los Angeles and University of California Berkeley respectively. We have invited them for a short interview to share their reflections.

Hi Steven, I heard that you were an English teacher in ISOL! How did that happen?

It all happened by chance. I was applying through my school for the corporate internship and I didn’t know much about it, and so when I was offered the position to come and work and teach English I figured it would be a cool experience and I decided to go for it.

Did you enjoy teaching? What did you learn during the course of your internship here?

I really enjoyed teaching. I feel like I improved my critical thinking skills a lot during the course of the internship, as I was constantly thinking about how to explain various English words and concepts using my very limited Japanese vocabulary and through drawing and synonyms.

Could you share a little bit more about your plans after graduation and whether or not your experiences here were relevant?

My plans after graduation involve going to work in finance. I have banking experience, so I will likely start off looking in that area as I try and find a career. My experience I believe will be very relevant, as the skills I developed can apply to anything I do.

If there was something you would like to advise the next batch of exchange students from UC, what would it be?

If you end up teaching English, make sure you are patient and take the time to learn what basic words and phrases that everyone knows, and try and relate any new words and concepts back to those initial words and phrases. All the employees are a lot of fun and you should definitely take the time to get to know them.

Sweet. Thanks for joining us in this program and for this interview, and we wish you the best in your future endeavours.

Hi Samantha, could you share with us a little more about yourself?

I am about to start my final year at UCLA. I am a biochemistry and economics double major. Growing up in San Francisco, environmental and health issues were very big topics that interested and surrounded me. I was very interested in biotechnology and even tried researching in the field myself. However, I found that I did not like scientific research. Still wanting to contribute to the field in which I could help the environment and the advancement of medicine, I looked to the business side of biotechnology, therefore my double major.

Could you share with our readers what you did in ISOL for a period of 10 weeks and your experiences working with ISOL?

Over the course of my internship, I did product research, specifically for Robotic Process Automation (RPA). I compared companies, researched it uses, disadvantages, etc. I was given the opportunity to attend a symposium to learn more about the companies and the technology as well. The experience overall was a good opportunity to learn more about how companies use new technologies to advance their businesses. The environment was friendly, and I learned a lot.

How do you think your term in ISOL has helped you in your near future?

Since the internship was my first exposure to the business world, it was very eye opening. With the research I did, I had to connect what I found to find its relevance in business solutions. I had to further develop my critical thinking skills. Since I was able to attend a symposium (RPA Digital World 2019 @ Tokyo International Forum) in a different country where I did not speak the language, my communication skills really developed as I had to really think about the words I used to get my point across.

What was something interesting for you?

The fact that ISOL had so many workers from a variety of places was very interesting. Every day in the office, I would hear four different types of languages. With that environment, it is a good opportunity to interact with many different people with very different cultural backgrounds. With an increasingly interconnected world, it is an important skill to hone.

If you could name something memorable that happened here, what would it be?

Something memorable for me would be the presentation I gave at the end of the program. It was a good experience for me to practice public speaking, but at the same time test what I really learned through my research. It was memorable because I was the one teaching people something new. While I was a little nervous, I had fun explaining what I learned and informing people about the topic.

Thank you, Sam. We were very impressed with your RPA Research presentation. I hope you had a good experience figuring out how to program your first RPA project. You most definitely looked cool and composed, but I am glad you were able to control your nerves. Have fun in the remaining days in Japan and we wish you the best.