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My name is Reona Matsumoto and, as you might gather from my name, I am Japanese. I usually introduce myself in the following way: “I’m Reona. Yeah, like Rihanna but with an O.”

I was born in Singapore, and grew up mostly in Tokyo, apart from a few years spent in Shanghai because of my father’s job. I have spent most of my life in Asia and this is my first time here in the UK, for my year abroad in London.��

It was more or less my mother’s decision for me to come and study in the UK. I was never that keen on studying abroad because, to be honest, I thought that Japan was enough for me.

I also disliked those who boasted of having changed a lot after a year abroad. How could you change so much in one year? However, my mom, being a typical Asian mom – encouraging and somewhat pushy – said that I would definitely love it. She eventually persuaded me to take part in an exchange programme at my university.

I am a law major at the University of Tokyo, but at UCL I am studying arts and sciences for a year. In Japan,��UCL is known��as as the place where Soseki Natsume, a celebrated Japanese modern novelist, studied when he came to the UK for research in the early 20th century. It is commonly known that Soseki suffered miserably in London – from poverty, homesickness and, unsurprisingly, the weather. That was the only impression of London that I had, so you can imagine just how reluctant I was to come here.

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But much to my astonishment, and to my mother’s triumph, I enjoy my life here in London. Choosing arts and sciences was one of the best decisions I have made, because it has given me the chance to explore interests that I hadn’t previously pursued, such as criminology, migration and health studies, censored novels and, to my delight, Spanish.��

Diversity was one of the key reasons I was attracted to UCL and London,as I pointed out in my application and scholarship interviews, but it still amazes me how beautifully diverse it is.��

People always tell me to have fun and enjoy the city while abroad but there are also such great academic resources and opportunities at UCL that it seems a waste not to take full advantage of those too.��

From learning how to get a (basically) free latte from Waitrose, to crying over a mail mishap and shutting myself away in the magnificent UCL library to agonise over essays, I feel myself becoming more of a Londoner each day.��

I don’t like having to eat my words, and as sceptical as I was of the word “change”, I do find myself changing. Hopefully, I will not take the same road as Soseki, and I will have a positive year here at UCL, going back home with stories that my mom will listen to with a knowing “I-told-you-so” look.

Reona Matsumoto is a Japanese exchange student studying for a year��at UCL. She will be blogging her experience for THE�����ٳܻ��Գ�.

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