Life through seasons:
My PhD journey at Hokkaido University

I came to Hokkaido university during 2020 winter, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The beautiful campus covered in white snow felt like a dream land for me. Coming from a tropical region in India, I never experienced the beauty of the winter. Although many seniors have told me that winter in Sapporo is too long, I have never felt that. I was enjoying every snowfall. It was my first time going outside India, but I never felt that cultural shock in a bad way. With the help of my laboratory members and professors my settling in Sapporo was really easy. I never felt homesickness because of the friendly environment.

Research work was really interesting for me. As coming from material science and polymer engineering background, the biotechnology area was a quite new for me. However, the curiosity in the area of biomimetic materials and underwater adhesion drawn me to succeed in the PhD studies. Biotechnology research sometimes didn’t succeed as we planned, but Dr. Nakashima sensei’s guidance helped me to overcome through all those. Solving problems in the research gave me the confidence to be an independent researcher.

Life was not limited to studies in Hokkaido. I enjoyed the transforming seasons. Cherry blossoms in spring, summer greens and flowers and vibrant autumn and finally peaceful white of winter added colors to my Japan life. Even though winter was long, there were lots of fun activities like skiing, snow hiking and sliding. In this year (February 2023), moreover, I could experience the magnificent snow festival in odori park after COVID-19 break. We never know how fast the winter days is passing by and other seasons changes in the blink of eyes.

Studying Hokkaido university was indeed a great experience filled with gaining knowledge and experiencing different cultures, and with different international student community I experienced not only Japanese culture but many others. Explore, experience and learn.