ສະ​ບ​າຍ​ດີ (sa-bai-dee) Hello, I am Souksavanh Khongsavanh or you can call me Papao, and I am Khanittha Vannalath or you can call me Jammie. We are short-term exchange students from Laos. We are belonging to Faculty of Law, Kumamoto University and we will be staying here until February. We have always wanted to come to Kumamoto, which is such a peaceful city. In Kumamoto, there are plenty of beautiful attractions, delicious food, and astonishing festivals. People here are very friendly and kind. We were grateful for being accepted to be exchange students in Kumamoto University, which is one of the best universities in Japan.

   By the way, there are only two of us from Laos in Kumamoto University and it is also our first time for being away from our homeland this long, so we felt excited and nervous in the same time. We had some problems such as we cannot speak Japanese; we didn't know directions in Kumamoto so well, so we often got lost easily; we did not know how to catch the bus and so forth. We needed to settle our Japanese living style down, learnt about Japanese university life as soon as possible. It took us some times to get used to lives in Japan. We felt like we were back to the freshman again. Everything was so new, so fresh; we had to learn from the start. For instance, how the school system works, get to know the direction in school, making new friends...etc.

   Since our Japanese skills are not very good, we intentionally decided to take Japanese classes in order to improve our Japanese skills; it may help us to communicate with people here easier. Plus, Kumamoto University also provided us the E-course program as well for who cannot take J-course. So, we study in both Japanese and English. The class atmosphere is lively; we always have group discussions and teachers are so kind. Moreover, there are always interesting events holding in the University such as the parties or trip to amazing attractions in not only Kumamoto but outside of Kumamoto as well as many diverse clubs that you can join.

   Time flies quickly, but we will enjoy our lives here in Japan as much as we can. It's quite sad that our time in here is running out so soon.  It's hard to believe that two months has passed now, it's like a blink of an eye. However, when we go back to our home country, we will surely share our wonderful experience in Japan that cannot experience elsewhere on earth except here in Kumamoto with friends or juniors.  We love Kumamoto, Kumamon. ~^^~

（抄訳：　こんにちは。私たちは、ラオスから日本へ短期留学中のPapaoとJammieです。私たちは、現在熊本大学法学部で学んでいて、来年の２月に帰国予定です。熊本は、とても穏やかな街で、たくさんの見所、おいしい食べ物、楽しいお祭りがあります。人々は、とても親切ですし、私たちは、熊本大学に来られたことをとても感謝しています。

　ラオスから熊本大学に来ているのは私たち２人だけで、私たちにとって、こんなに長く母国を離れるのは初めてですから、最初は、とても楽しみであると同時に、心配もしていました。私たちは、日本語をうまく話せませんし、当然ながら土地勘もありませんでしたから、よく迷子にもなりました。熊本大学での学生生活を始めることは、１年生に戻るような気分であり、大学のシステムはどうなっているのか、キャンパス内の移動はどうするか、新しい友達を作るにはどうしたらいいか、などといったことを一から始めました。

　私たちは、日本語の能力を高めるために、日本語の授業をとっていますが、英語で行われる授業にも参加しています。どのクラスでも、活発な議論がされ、先生たちは親切です。授業以外にも、様々なイベントが大学内外で開かれています。（訳者挿入文：写真の着物を着ている女性は私たちで、イベントの1つで、着物を着る体験ができました。）

　時が飛ぶように去って行くのは寂しいことで、もう２ヶ月が経ってしまいました。ラオスに帰ったら、私たちが、ここ熊本でしか経験できなかった素晴らしいことを伝えたいと思います。私たちは、熊本とくまもんが大好きです。）