The Class of 2021 comprises students from twenty-seven countries. During the spring semester, the photography exhibition Home Away from Home? in David Saul Smith Union featured portraits of a number of these students. The pictures were accompanied by an essay about what it’s like to study at Bowdoin when you’re often thousands of miles from home and family.
Over the summer, we are publishing a selection of those photographs with the accompanying essays. Today the spotlight is on Hideyoshi Akai ’19.
Photo by Shinhee Kang ’18
I consider Tokyo my home, but I also feel as comfortable in Hawaii because I was there for seven- plus years. When I think of home, I imagine my family members, friends, and the furniture in my house. I also picture the train station nearby because I need to use that to go anywhere.
Bowdoin is home to me in a sense that I know many people and many people know me. It falls short simply because I have only been here for less than three years.
I spend a lot less time at home because I am very far away, and it is expensive to travel back. I miss my mother’s homemade food! Ah!
The exhibition Home Away from Home? was initiated, co-curated, and organized by Shinhee Kang’18 and Cheng-Chun (Kevin) Yu’19.
