I saw some pictures on the "Eyes of Alma Mater." If you have the opportunity, check them out too. How I wish I could take the day off and be there.
***** ^_^ *****
My dearest ACTS-es students,
Welcome to a new year at TCU. My warmest welcome to the ACTS-es Freshmen class and exchange students. I have seen your faces on Yanagisawa-sensei's web album and look forward to hear great things about you. My love goes out to the rest of the returning students. I missed you dearly. I hope you have had a great summer and all geared up for another challenging year at TCU.
Allow me to first congratulate all of you for being here. Each student in the program comes from an unique background and hand-picked in the belief that each of you would be equipped to do great things with the knowledge and experience gained during your time here. You might come with expectations, goals, and dreams. Through time, these will be refined or changed to better suit the new and improved you. I assure you that your time at TCU would be filled with excitement, joy, and challenges. There will be struggles and a whole lot of frustration too. Nevertheless, I pray that you would find lasting friendship, a shoulder to cry on, comrades to cheer for you, and a family away from home united by the grace who brought us all here.
You have seen the campus and have a taste of dorm life. I believe you have met the wonderful people who are closely associated with the ACTS-es program and I know you will meet more of the TCU community who would play an active role in your life here. I pray that you would spend time to get to know each and everyone in this room on a personal level for they will share with you essential tips to make your life in TCU and Japan a journey of a lifetime. Keeping it short, I will leave you with 5 suggestions for now. Consider them seriously.
1. Grow VERY close to your ACTS-es classmates. They are your immediate family for your time here. You will be each other's support as you mature.
2. Build a close relationship with the seniors of the program. They have experienced and know what you are going through and should know valuable survival tips to make things easier as you learn to stand on Japanese ground.
3. Be respectful to your professors. Put effort into your work and submit them on time. TCU faculty members are very nice people. Do not take for granted their kindness and generosity.
4. Be a part of TCU. Know your Japanese classmates. Join the choir. Participate in every TCU event. Pay your student council fees, attend every meeting, and join committees. You are a part of the TCU student body. You can make a difference in this school. Be responsible to make your college life as meaningful as possible. Your seniors have worked very hard to integrate the ACTS-es students into the student body to be able to enjoy every benefit. Don't mess it up.
5. Do your cleaning duties. Try to maintain the good reputation of the ACTS-es students that we are mature, intelligent, fun, and interesting. It forms discipline and builds character. Trust me.
As those who know me knows I have plenty more to say only because I share a strong love and deep passion for this school and program. An ACTS-es student is not just the average international student, you are a super international student. You will be busy dealing with cultural differences, your commitment to church, finding part-time jobs, etc. but I ask you to remember your choice in coming here and focus your commitment on your role as a student above anything else. Do everything as unto the LORD.
Feel free to contact me. I would love to hear from you. I will pop by whenever possible. I will be contactable to answer any questions.
In Christ,
The crazy, loud and annoying Malaysian.
1 comment:
Wow! I finished the letter past 1 in the morning. I have only noticed now that there are quite a number of grammatical errors in it.
Good job, Suemae. What a way to set an example.
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