RELEASED: Dec. 2, 2004

DANVILLE, KY—Each year international exchange students travel thousands of miles from their home in Japan to experience college life at Centre. They're drawn to the College for many of the same reasons as American students, the liberal arts curriculum, the attractive campus setting and the friendly student body.

"The scenery around campus is very beautiful! I was very impressed. The campus is a little larger than I expected," says Ayaka Sorata, an exchange student from Yamaguchi Prefectural University in Japan who is student at Centre this year. Sorata and Sayoko Kawai, who is also at Centre this year, already knew a few people when they arrived in the fall. They made friends last year with Centre students studying at YPU for a semester.

Sorata and Kawai met Centre students Aaron Smith '06, David Newbold '06, Ginny Davis '05 and Randy Scott '06 who studied in Yamaguchi last year as part of Centre's exchange program.

"Since we had no idea about Yamaguchi at all, our friends like Sayoko and Ayaka would take us out to do things like karaoke or visit neat little sites throughout the week. We all had such an incredible time," Smith says.

"I feel privileged to have been a part of the Centre-YPU exchange program," Smith adds. "You just can't say enough about this program. It's phenomenal. I think that going abroad, especially to Asia, is such a fulfilling experience because it's so different from the West, yet so similar."

Kawai and Sorata are having an equally wonderful experience on our side of the Pacific. So far, Centre has made a good impression.

Although many classes at YPU are taught in English, studying in a foreign language is still a bit of a challenge for the YPU students at Centre. The classes are all difficult for me," admits Kawai, who is taking humanities, sociology, philosophy and music. Luckily, she adds, "the professors are all very, very nice."

Sorata is taking humanities, religion, history and dance. She also sings in the choir. "I'm interested in history," she says. "Before I came here, I heard that there's a very good history curricula in Centre College, so I decided to come."

Sophomore Rachel Tapley contributed to this story.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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