Hiromi (m)'s visit to Maryland

I had the great pleasure of seeing Hiromi Satoh here at the University of Maryland yesterday. "Hiro" (as I always think of him, to distinguish him from the other Hiromi Sato) has been attending a three-week program at Fordham University outside New York City, and before returning to Japan for the new semester, he scheduled visits to Maryland and Washington state. In Maryland, he was hosted by Ji Won, former mentor extraordinaire. After a very long day of classes and meetings, I met them at the coffee shop at Stamp Union. Laura, Shania (one of our "unofficial mentors" from 2007) and two other UM students were also there. It was lovely to see everyone and to chat at some length with Hiro in English (he spoke very well!!). This was my first opportunity to see a former AGU in America participant face-to-face, and I really enjoyed it.

Meanwhile I have been keeping touch with several AGUers on Facebook, where we have a group "AGU in America" with seventeen members, including mentors, participants from 2006 and 2007, and even two former participants from 1994 and 1995 who happened to come upon the group in Facebook and joined it! (Back then, I was not involved with the program, but Aoyama Gakuin did send groups to MEI for several summers.) If you are a member of Facebook, do join us; if you aren't a member, registration is free.