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My name is Hinako Tanakamaru and I am an international student from Japan. I plan to graduate in 2024 with both my bachelor’s and master’s in Business Administration and Management. I attended an international high school in upstate New York, and a lot of my friends who graduated before me came to ÌÒñ«ÉçÇø, so I heard good things about the business courses from them. I also wanted to have college life in New York City because it’s so diverse and there’s so much happening. So, I came to ÌÒñ«ÉçÇø.

Here I can learn a lot of things I might not have learned in Japan. At ÌÒñ«ÉçÇø and in New York, I get a lot of perspectives, because I’m studying in a different culture I never experienced back in Japan. People in the United States have a lot of different opinions and share them directly. In Japan, it’s not like that. It’s made me feel like I should speak up more and I feel like I’ve become a more open-minded person because I have to think about other people’s cultural perspectives.

For over a year, I’ve been a peer leader UNV 101 courses, and I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a lot of first-year international students. It’s so nice to join the class because I really like teaching and supporting others. I also did an internship at the . It was kind of similar, but I did the internship in Tokyo, so the students were different countries and there to learn Japanese. I supported students by issuing visas, helping with accommodations, and troubleshooting other customer service issues. It was new for me to have real-life experiences in a company, and it is very satisfying be on the other side and help students studying internationally with that transition period.

I strongly recommend international students come to New York and to ÌÒñ«ÉçÇø. In New York you can experience everything, meet new people, and learn new things. I think experiencing new things is the best thing in life.