Has anyone else been- or is currently going to- Kaisai Gaidai? I always find it interesting to be connected through common experiences with random people I encounter through Japanese study. I often find that many ALT's, JET's, people living in Japan, otaku, ect... went to Kansai Gaidai. I was there spring of '05.

Though at the time I had no idea about RTK, I still learned a great deal of Japanese (though it turned out to be horribly inefficient as the hundreds of kanji I crammed for were forgotten within a few months). It's also where I met many friends, including my current 外国人　girlfriend (sorry to specify nationality, but most people assume she's Japanese if I met her in Japan, which leads to misunderstandings).

I stayed in Seminar house 1 the first few days, then was transferred to homestay in Takatsuki (way too far away), then transferred again to Seminar house 2.

So, if you feel like reminiscing, please post anything you want about Gaidai or Hirakata.

I went to Kansai Gaidai for the fall2006/winter2007 year. My speaking ability did drastically improve while there, but I think that was more due to me surrounding myself with Japanese people instead of other foreigners (and living in homestay for one semester, and my Japanese girlfriend for the second) than anything we did in class (I was level 4 then 5).

I was in seminar house 4 (the death house) for orientation & when my homestay parents suddenly went to disney land during midterms. My homestay was in the mountains in the middle of nowhere in Kisaichi (Katano-shi). The second semester I lived in downtown Osaka-shi. Coincidentally, I worked at an eikaiwa in Takatsuki; it's actually not very far from Hirakatashi if you take the bus.

My impression of Kansai Gaidai is that it's a good school for the Japanese students (and the very expensive price they pay reflects that), but not a very good school for exchange students. The reason I say this, is because all of the foreign students are segregated into the International building and seminar houses/homestay, with no mixing in either classes or residences, unless you meet the very highest level of Japanese ability. In contrast, most other universities, in Canada and in Japan, try to mix the students as much as possible - treat the foreign students as if they were regular students, with the addition of some extra language courses. The relative lack of mixing does mean that someone with absolutely no Japanese ability can enter though.. Also, the cultural events clubs seemed to get pretty lazy after the first month of the first semester, because the sign up events became very few.

Despite my complaints, I had a lot of fun at Kansai Gaidai and it was a great experience.