『えいごで読む物語』シリーズでは、ランカル英会話に所属するメイトの日常や思い出をえいごでお届けします。

今回はアメリカの大学生活をご紹介！

本当に映画やドラマに出てくるような生活なのか、気になる方も多いのではないでしょうか？
日本の大学とは異なるサークル活動やポイントなどにも注目です:)

こちらのコラムは参考となる絵や単語を多く掲載しています。
エクステンシブ・リーディング（多読）用の文章としてもおすすめなので、ぜひリーディング練習にも活用ください。

詳しい練習方法は以下を参考にしてくださいね♪

Intro

University can be one of the best times in a person’s life. It can be an exciting new environment away from home that helps you grow and discover who you are.

I went to University in the US a few years ago, I graduated in 2014, and it had its ups and downs for me as I expect it does for most people. So, let me give you a glimpse into the life of a not exactly average University student.

What’s uni in the US like?

When we think of University in the USA we tend to imagine what we see in movies and that usually involves fraternities and parties and barely studying. To be honest, this is true for some people. It wasn’t true for me.

But, I did have my fair share of fun while I was there. For some context I went to a pretty good Engineering University in California. It was a state school, so it wasn’t that expensive, but the costs do add up.

It was about $7000 a year in tuition and a few hundred bucks a year for books depending on your courses.

When I started, I kind of wanted to stay in the dorms so I could get that fun college experience that we all imagine, but when I found out they wanted another $10,000 a year for a shared dorm room, I dropped that plan quickly and lived at home. I bought a car and drove an hour to school every time I had class.Now, being in uni in the US is actually pretty interesting. The schools are basically self contained. You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to. There’re restaurants, a library, recreation halls(arcades/movie theaters/etc), some have hotels(mine did), and you can work at the school if you want.

I chose not to work at the school. I was just there to study and move on with my life.  They have a lot of events that are meant to improve student life and morale. Being a student can be pretty stressful, so one of my favorite events was always the final’s week pup cuddle day.

Some students bring their dogs and puppies to school and you can go cuddle and play with the dogs to ease your troubled mind. They also had quite a few events that gave out free food.
I loved these. In my honest opinion one of the best weeks of the school year for me was the first week. It was the freshman welcome week so every day the school gave out free food.

Usually, it was hotdogs or some kind of hand held food, but it was always delicious because I was always hungry. They also had pizza with the president once a month. If you registered you could eat pizza and ask the president of the university questions or discuss the university with him.

It was limited to about 25-30 students with food, but anyone could go and ask questions. There are events like this all year, some for festivals and others just to help the students meet and have fun. Whatever the reason they were always appreciated.

Fraternities and Sororities

I’m gonna jump back to movies now. American Universities do in fact have Fraternities and Sororities. Frats are for guys and Sororities are for girls. There are some that are mixed gender, but it’s not common.

They used to get into trouble quite often because of hazing and less than positive activities when I was there. I think one nation wide fraternity had a ban placed on them for about two years because of something they did.
The frat was still at the school, but they couldn’t accept any new members for two years. They do host parties and they will have a house that they use as their base.  Their main purpose is to create friends and connections for later in life. They do have rush week as well.

They post up in the quad and try to recruit new students to join them. It’s a good option for some people, but it wasn’t for me. I did join a fraternity, but it was an academic fraternity that you had to ask to join by one of your professors(the advisor). They didn’t do anything, it just looks good on your resume.

Conclusion

Lastly as far as the classes are concerned I can’t imagine they’re much different from other schools. But, many teachers really don’t care if you come to class. I had many professors say that as long as you passed their exams you’d pass the class. I’m also someone who switched majors and I’m not sure what the process is like in Japan, but in my school it took a little more than an hour.

I had to talk to two professors and get their signature. Then turn in the form and pay a few. I took a lot of different classes while I was in uni. Everything from public speaking to intro to C++.

Not only was there a class for everything, there was a club for everything. Plus if there wasn’t a club for what you wanted to do, as long as you had 6 people and a professor willing to be the advisor you could start it, and get money for your activities.

All in all, university life in the US can be really stressful, but it’s also a fun time as long as you try to participate. If you don’t want to have fun, don’t go to the US for school. If you want to know more about or are interested in how US citizens apply for uni or even the requirements to get in, let me know. I’m always happy to reminisce.

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今回はアメリカの大学生活についてご紹介しました。

Fraternities and Sororitiesはご存知でしたか？
まさに海外の学園ものドラマでよく見るようなサークルですね(笑)

留学を考えている人は、ぜひ参考にしてみてくださいね！

LanCul英会話ではリーディングはもちろん、スピーキング、コミュニケーションにも役立つ学習動画を取り扱っており、教科書では学ぶことの出来ない、日常的でより実践的な多様な会話を学ぶことができます。
気になる方は下のプレビュー動画をチェックしてみてくださいね。

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