It was around the end of the first semester of 2017 that my participation in CAMPUS ASIA exchange student program was decided. The university I went to was Chiba University located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It was a good opportunity for me because they have a long history of design education.

The university system in Chiba University divides one semester into three terms, which is a little different from Korea. They had much more experimental lectures compared to Korea's, presumably because of shorter terms. Among those lectures, what I took was a 'Not (so) Offline Project'. The project was to make a design product and sell those on online markets, while having a budget cap of 30,000 yen. It was considered successful when those products were making profits.

Not only it was experimental but also was 'Joint Class'. Which means international students, including myself, were asked to make a joint team with Japanese students when participating in this project. At first, we had to use sketches and body gestures to communicate, but as we gradually become familiar with English expressions about the abstract concepts, we were able to submit good results to the market at the end of the project. This experience of collaborating with people with different nationalities also helped me to lead the team as a team leader at the CAMPUS ASIA workshops.

Another reason why the program was meaningful for me is 'Double Degree'. While my home university is specialized in editorial design, they are rather weak in mobile UI design compared to Chiba University. And thanks to 'Double Degree' system, I was able to take UI design lectures in Chiba University and get those grades included in the report card of the home university. Needless to say, the resume with UI design classes included help me a lot to become UI designer, which I am right now.