Friday, September 10, 2010
UNU @ Friday, September 10, 2010
I'm back from Shonan! 5days4nights stay at Shonan International Village for UNU Global Seminar 2010. It is my second time participating in this event and the theme this year was 'Towards a sustainable global society'. The word 'sustainability' was so commonly mentioned during the seminar.It was a pleasure listening to Prof. Dennis Meadows lecture, since he is like the pioneer in this field of environmental sustainability. I managed to chat with him during the welcome reception and he recommended some books for me to read.
I noticed a sort of 'change' within myself. I realized I'm now more out-spoken, am not afraid of sharing my views even in front of a large crowd. I must say, the experience I had over these years made me a much more confident person. And I guess the person who really left an impact on me was Dr. Uchida (my seminar prof). I may not be as intelligent as her but I would love to absorb her ideas and think about it for myself.
I'm glad I had the chance to talk to a number of professors and researchers during the seminar.
Prof. Fujimaki from Tokai University was very very nice to me. He recognized me even before I introduced myself, and he came up to me right after the plenary discussion and commented on the topic I raised during the Q&A session. I was simply touched by this because I don't think there are many professors who would actually come up to a student, praising that her question was good, and offering to discuss more about it. I hope I will have another chance to chat with Prof. Fujimaki :)
And Prof Myoe, who was our group advisor was wonderful!!!!!!!!! He was willing to interact with the students, actively participated in group discussions, bought us beer and potato chips (lol), and bought us HAAGEN DAZS ICE CREAM when we were dying from preparing for our final presentation!!!!!!!!! Yay, I'm glad I met him x)
After attending this seminar, I am reassured that I want to work in this field in the future. For that, I have to go do masters and I really want to study more. But the problem is, I'm not decided which field to further my studies in...like I'm interested in evolutionary biology, public health, epidermiology and population studies. They are not totally unrelated and I believe those fields of study inspire me the most. But I can't decide and I should not just choose randomly.
So what I'm thinking now is to get a job at the global company. After understanding how the economy works and how business is done, I may have a clearer insight of what I really plan to do. The friends I made at this lecture motivated me to do masters, so I'll definitely work towards my dream. Hm, I guess I really love studying, lol.
More photos will be uploaded on facebook, but for now, I shall end today's entry with this photo.
These are the wonderful people I've met this year. From group E-2, Hakan, Erina, Anu, Udita, Dimi, Trung, Shoiful, Ex, Kiku(Tomochan!), Hi-chan and Me :) I love love love love love love the days we spent together!!! Keep in touch!