Ikeda Yumeka, who is a third year students of science course, was selected a member of “Tobitate!” Leap for Tomorrow, Young Ambassador Program.  This program is sponsored by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.  She is now taking a training for about six weeks in Connecticut, the United States of America.  We’ll inform you of her report from Connecticut!

    I left Narita Airport on Saturday, July 6th and arrived at Hartford via Washington.  There is a thirteen-hour time difference between Connecticut and Japan.  So my days and nights were reversed and I suffered from jet lag at first.  The sunlight is strong outside and it is very hot!  But the air conditioners is so strong in the room that I feel cold although I wear a long-sleeved shirt.
    Now I join “U Conn Pre-College Summer.”  I live in a room in the dormitory.  I have to change my room and my roommate every week.  My first roommate was a local student.  The school cafeteria is buffet style.  They serves typical American meals, so I miss Japanese food so much!
For the first week I chose a “Data Science” class.  I attended an orientation on Sunday and took classes and workshops on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I took classes all day on Tuesday and Thursday.  After dinner we have some activities every day.
There were many discoveries and surprises this week!  Participants are almost local students.  Of course I am the only Japanese.  I know it’s only natural but I’m surprised that they speak English very quickly.  I ask them to repeat what they said once more because I can’t catch English.  When I talk with few students, I can easily asked them to do so.  But I have difficulty asking them during a class.  However, whenever I’m in trouble, I was helped by my classmates sitting near me so many times. 
In a “Data Science” class, I calculated “cosine similarity,” an index number that shows similarity of multiple documents.   I had difficulty in typing in a unique way.  Of course, I type words in Japanese and others in English.  My teacher borrowed me a PC and people around me helped me.  I managed to do my best.  I finished making a presentation without any troubles on Friday.  Then I finished all the classes of the week.  On Saturday I went to a field trip.
Next week I’m going to take a “Food Science and Technology” class.  The campus is so big that I’m almost getting lost.  I came across beavers and deer while I was walking there.  Connecticut has a good environment because it has a lot of nature.
    (John Does        206HR)