W&M-Keio Cross-Cultural collaboration
Carina Rosenberg takes a moment to reflect on her experience as a peer assistant for the two-day online W&M-Keio Cross-Cultural collaboration during the summer 2022.
“This is my second summer participating as an online peer assistant, and both years have been a lot of fun! Both days began with lectures about topics in American Studies, followed by a discussion with Keio students. Peer assistants lead a group in a breakout room in discussion about these lectures. The lectures this year were about material culture and memorializing Hurricane Katrina. We spent a lot of time drawing connections from the topics to Japanese culture – for example, one of the Keio students compared the memorialization of x-codes post-Katrina to 「奇跡の一本松」(Miracle Pine Tree) that was preserved in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
After the lectures, peer assistants had the opportunity to speak with Keio students in networking sessions (breakout rooms) to field questions about W&M/U.S. life and practice their English and to get to know each other. I especially enjoyed this time – most of us exchanged contact information, so I’ve been able to keep up with my peers in Keio after the program and also add some really good Japanese songs to my Spotify playlist.
I had a lot of fun discussing college and culture with students from Keio! It was a great learning experience, and I hope to one day visit the friends that I met there in person.”
