By Payton Stephens
Everyone gets homesick now and again, especially at the start of college. Though, very few student’s homesickness has to travel over a span of 6,474 miles. Over the years at Bluffton University there has been a rising number of international students, similar to Bluffton’s sister college, Hesston College, in Kansas. One of the international students currently residing on Bluffton’s campus is Risa Fukaya from Japan.
Risa Fukaya, junior social work major photo by Payton Stephens
Fukaya is a junior social work major who transferred to Bluffton from Hesston College in Kansas in August. Fukaya has spent a total of four years in the United States, having taken a gap year with a Mennonite organization in Jackson, Mississippi.
Unlike most schools in the United States, Japan’s school system encourages its students to travel overseas for education after high school. Fukaya said she began her college search for universities in the U.S. as early as her second year of high school, so when it was time for her to move to the U.S., her family had already gotten used to the idea of her studying abroad.
While Japan’s school systems did try to prepare students to travel to America, there was still a large language gap the students had to get through, Fukaya said.
As a child, she was forced to take an English language class, despite her obvious lack of enjoyment. She said despite having the extra knowledge of the English language, it was still difficult to hold conversations during her first year in the States.
She said she is thankful this is not her first year in the U.S., because with the pandemic she can’t imagine how difficult it would be to break the language barrier when everyone is wearing a mask.
“Even though I had that experience back home, it was just really different to be able to catch up with what people were saying and be able to be a part of conversation…the language thing made it really hard to put my personality out there,” said Fukaya.
One of the things that helped Fukaya overcome the language gap was being surrounded by people.
Fukaya said she had made many international friends while at Hesston, and she drew strength and support from them as well as from her freshman roommate. The two quickly bonded, and Fukaya even went home with her roommate on weekends. When staying with her family Fukaya was even more exposed to the Mennonite faith by going to Sunday worship with them.
“It [the Mennonite church] was just such a welcoming community, and it gave me a sense of belonging when I was away from my actual family,” said Fukaya.
Fukaya spoke about how little religion is brought up in Japan, which made it even more of an eye-opening experience when she started regularly attending worship services. She ended up being baptized at a Mennonite church, which in turn solidified her wanting to study at another Mennonite college.
She expressed the feeling of peace she found within the community as well as a sense of belonging. Fukaya simply describes herself as a Christian at this point in time, though, wanting to learn more about the several denominations as she gets older.
“My home was definitely where my biological family was in Japan…still it is home, but I have come to the point where home is where you have people who make you feel home,” said Fukaya.
