Today I am going to talk about locks. I sometimes have trouble unlocking doors, 'cause I can't figure out which way the key is supposed to turn. Dad (and others) have told me the trusty saying, "Righty tighty, Lefty loosey." (Right to lock and left to unlock.) I repeat this to myself before I start to un/lock a door, but then the key doesn't want to turn the proper way, and I get confused, and I usually end up banging on the door and frantically turning the handle and key in every possible combination.
Well, I now have an understandable reason to not know which way to turn the key or the lock. Just as the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, their locks lock to the left and unlock to the right. At least the ones to our rooms do; I guess I can't speak for all Japanese locks, as I haven't un/locked many doors here in Japan. Anyway, I have to turn the key to the right to unlock the door to my room. But, to make this even more confusing, (Because why should this everyday function be easy?) hen I'm inside the room, or in the toilet, I turn the lock-knob-thing to the right to lock the door and to the left to unlock it. Which sort of makes sense, because turning to the left on one side of the door put the knob to the right on the other side. But the point of the story is this: Locks are confusing, and now I have a legitimate reason to be unable to proper un/lock a door on the first try.
Actual orientation started today, which means we spent the whole day in a lecture hall, listening to people talk. The first session was a repeat of Monday's welcome and guide to the schedule. The next one was an intro of the faculty, which was interesting. It was also a bit odd for me, because there are many more male professors here. I guess it's because I've been in the Hollins bubble. Hollins has male professor, just not a huge amount of them, and I haven't taken classes with many of them. There was a meet the faculty period, where you could go and talk to the teachers about their classes. I went and met my assigned academic advisor, mostly to find out what the academic advisor is supposed to do. He's also teaching one of the classes I signed up for: Ethics: East and West. He was nice, and said that he was there if I had any questions about anything, but specifically if I had any problems with my homestay or classes. He sounded excited that I wanted to take his class. His one warning amused me greatly. He warned me that there would be a lot of reading for the class. Oh no! Me? Reading? However shall I survive?! I won't even have the distraction of shelves of personal books to read this semester, so I think I can handle it. Although, now that I've said that, there will probably be hundreds of pages of reading a night!
After the faculty meeting, there was a long meeting about safety issues. A large part of this meeting was spent discussing the laws about owning and riding bicycles in Japan. Let me just say that I no longer have any desire to EVER ride a bike while I'm here. Seriously, they do not seem worth the hassle. I'm hoping my homestay is either close enough to walk to the school or far enough away that I need to take bus or train.
TOMORROW I FIND OUT MY HOMESTAY INFORMATION!!!!!! I'm SUPER excited!!! I still won't meet them until this weekend, but I will at least know how many of them are in the family and hopefully where they live!
And now I must leave you and commence my excited flailing.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tests, Internet, and Socializing
I have had another fun filled day today. Not as full as tomorrow will be though. Actual orientation starts tomorrow, so I'll be in meeting after meeting after meeting for the next two days.
I had the wonderfully fun experience of taking my Japanese Language Placement Test today. And I say wonderfully fun in the most sarcastic way possible. We 'started' at 9:30am. The first hour was spent 1. filling out the emergency contact form online, which I did three days ago, and 2. watching a DVD of one of the staff members (who was standing right there in the front of the room) walk us through every single possible step of the test. There were different sections of the grammar part, and you were placed into a section based on the number of years you had studied and then you moved up or down depending on your score. I've studied for 2 years at university level, which placed me smack dab in the middle (third) section. Did I understand anything in that section? Almost nothing. So, after that discouraging start I was sent to the second section. That one went a little better, but not by much. In my opinion the those two sections were a similar level of difficult. I didn't score particularly well on the second, so I got to take yet another section, the first and easiest level. Whereas the 2nd section was maybe 1/2 a step down from the 3rd, the 1st section was about 3 steps down from the 2nd. They wrote out every sentence and possible answer in romaji. I can read hirgana thank you very much. It's my vocab and grammar skills that are sucky. And after all of that, I still had to take two more sections on the reading and recognition of kanji. I didn't expect to do amazingly well on that, and I fulfilled my expectations.
However, after that sad start to my day, I was able to find my speaking partner, Miyuki, and we spent an interesting hour or so chatting and being awkward. I had my computer with me, so I showed her pictures of Hollins and Tinker Day and Fencing, which she seemed to enjoy. She really liked the crazy Tinker Day outfits!
Then, some of the girls I met yesterday showed up, sat down, and started talking to us. They were meeting people there too, so pretty soon there were 8 of us (Japanese and exchange students) sitting and speaking in the constant mixture of Japanese and English that I am starting to get used to. Miyuki had to leave, and soon after so did I. I got my laptop registered for wireless internet, which I am using right now to post this! YAY, no more being tied down by a cord!
It didn't take very long to register my laptop, and it was still early in the afternoon, a little after 2pm (14:00 as they say here). I went back to the student lounge and rejoined the group that was still there. People came and left, but there was usually at least 4 or 5 of us at any given time. It seems to be a very past-time for students to sit in groups and just talk. It's not an uncommon thing for me, except that I'm usually sitting in a group and talking for hours with people I've known for longer than a day. Also, some students will come and talk for only ten minutes and then leave again. Some will talk for 30 mins., leave, come back for 10 mins., leave again, come back again, repeat. And others will just sit there the whole time, for hours on end, talking to everyone who comes and sits. I sat there with them until after 4pm (16:00).
When I got back to the dorm, there were more people to talk to, sitting around the table in the kitchen. Then, just as I was headed into my room for some rest, one of my roommates came back. She left soon after though to go to a karaoke place. She asked me to go with, but I had had enough of socializing for the day. I got the room to myself for a couple of hours, and I laid on my bed and read for the first time since I got here. Then I walked to the supermarket and got some food for the next three days. It was nice and relaxing. I've been constantly surrounded by people for the past four days, and that pattern will likely continue for the next four, and probably for the foreseeable future. I know that I am not a naturally social person, but it was really brought home to me by how happy and relaxed I felt, laying on my bed, all by myself. I guess I'm trying to say that I have been getting out and talking to people and being social, which is good. I need to meet more people and not stay holed up in my room as I mostly wish I could. But it's also nice to have that alone time.
And since neither of my roommates are back yet, I'm headed off for some more uninterrupted reading time. After I finish posting this. And replying to yesterday's comments. And adding pictures to Facebook.
I had the wonderfully fun experience of taking my Japanese Language Placement Test today. And I say wonderfully fun in the most sarcastic way possible. We 'started' at 9:30am. The first hour was spent 1. filling out the emergency contact form online, which I did three days ago, and 2. watching a DVD of one of the staff members (who was standing right there in the front of the room) walk us through every single possible step of the test. There were different sections of the grammar part, and you were placed into a section based on the number of years you had studied and then you moved up or down depending on your score. I've studied for 2 years at university level, which placed me smack dab in the middle (third) section. Did I understand anything in that section? Almost nothing. So, after that discouraging start I was sent to the second section. That one went a little better, but not by much. In my opinion the those two sections were a similar level of difficult. I didn't score particularly well on the second, so I got to take yet another section, the first and easiest level. Whereas the 2nd section was maybe 1/2 a step down from the 3rd, the 1st section was about 3 steps down from the 2nd. They wrote out every sentence and possible answer in romaji. I can read hirgana thank you very much. It's my vocab and grammar skills that are sucky. And after all of that, I still had to take two more sections on the reading and recognition of kanji. I didn't expect to do amazingly well on that, and I fulfilled my expectations.
However, after that sad start to my day, I was able to find my speaking partner, Miyuki, and we spent an interesting hour or so chatting and being awkward. I had my computer with me, so I showed her pictures of Hollins and Tinker Day and Fencing, which she seemed to enjoy. She really liked the crazy Tinker Day outfits!
Then, some of the girls I met yesterday showed up, sat down, and started talking to us. They were meeting people there too, so pretty soon there were 8 of us (Japanese and exchange students) sitting and speaking in the constant mixture of Japanese and English that I am starting to get used to. Miyuki had to leave, and soon after so did I. I got my laptop registered for wireless internet, which I am using right now to post this! YAY, no more being tied down by a cord!
It didn't take very long to register my laptop, and it was still early in the afternoon, a little after 2pm (14:00 as they say here). I went back to the student lounge and rejoined the group that was still there. People came and left, but there was usually at least 4 or 5 of us at any given time. It seems to be a very past-time for students to sit in groups and just talk. It's not an uncommon thing for me, except that I'm usually sitting in a group and talking for hours with people I've known for longer than a day. Also, some students will come and talk for only ten minutes and then leave again. Some will talk for 30 mins., leave, come back for 10 mins., leave again, come back again, repeat. And others will just sit there the whole time, for hours on end, talking to everyone who comes and sits. I sat there with them until after 4pm (16:00).
When I got back to the dorm, there were more people to talk to, sitting around the table in the kitchen. Then, just as I was headed into my room for some rest, one of my roommates came back. She left soon after though to go to a karaoke place. She asked me to go with, but I had had enough of socializing for the day. I got the room to myself for a couple of hours, and I laid on my bed and read for the first time since I got here. Then I walked to the supermarket and got some food for the next three days. It was nice and relaxing. I've been constantly surrounded by people for the past four days, and that pattern will likely continue for the next four, and probably for the foreseeable future. I know that I am not a naturally social person, but it was really brought home to me by how happy and relaxed I felt, laying on my bed, all by myself. I guess I'm trying to say that I have been getting out and talking to people and being social, which is good. I need to meet more people and not stay holed up in my room as I mostly wish I could. But it's also nice to have that alone time.
And since neither of my roommates are back yet, I'm headed off for some more uninterrupted reading time. After I finish posting this. And replying to yesterday's comments. And adding pictures to Facebook.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Pre-Orientation
Hello! Konichiwa! こにちわ！
Let's see...I left off last time with me falling asleep on Saturday night, so I will be telling you about Sunday and Monday.
Sunday
I woke up around 7:15-7:30, getting about 7 hours of sleep. The covering over the window doesn't keep out the light AT ALL! And my room faces the east, so the sun comes streaming in with its wake-up call. I didn't feel tired though, so I got up. The third roommate came in a little while later. She seems very...bubbly. She came with a group of 10 students from her school, so she mostly hangs out with them. My other temporary roommate is more like me, quiet around strangers and keeps to herself.
A group of us went exploring around 10am. The size and people kept changing. First we went to one of the other Seminar Houses and met up with more people. Then the group split up to go find a restaurant. The group I stuck with ended up at this cafe place called Cafe de Raffinee, in the park between the Seminar Houses. They had some good food: curry and rice, pasta with either salmon, tuna, or eggplant, and chicken teriyaki were some of the dishes we ordered.
After this, the group split up again, with my group headed towards the campus. We found our way to the Main Gate. There are four gates, the East Gate is the closest to the Seminar Houses, but it leads to the Athletic Fields, so you still have to walk a ways in campus to get to the main buildings. The Main and South Gates are very close to each other, and the Main Gate opens onto the main quad area. The two most important buildings for International students are right there-the Library/Media Center on the left and the Center for International Education (CIE) on the right. We explored a bit and then headed back to the dorms. On the way we stopped by a supermarket and a konbini (コンビニ) (convenience store, pronounced like the first part of convenience, only with a "b" instead of the "v") to pick up some dinner and breakfast supplies.
That took most of the day, and we were exhausted from the heat by the time we got back. I started studying for the Japanese placement exam, which I will take on Tuesday morning. I took a shower, which was an interesting endevor when it came to drying off. Since I'm doing a homestay, I didn't bring a towel, because those would be provided. The information given about orientation also said that we wouldn't need to bring any linen. However, whereas bed linens were provided, towels were not. I wrung out my hair and braided it to keep it from soaking my clothes and then tried to shake off as much water from the rest of me as I could. It was weird, but it got the job done. I tried to stay up later, so I could try skyping with my family, but I was too tired and ending up going to bed at 9pm.
Monday
I woke up when the sun started coming in at 6am, but held out for a more normal wake-up time at 7am. I took my time getting dressed and eating an onigiri ( おにぎり) {rice ball, pronounced o-ne(as in neat)-gi(as in give)-re(as in really)} Then we walked to the campus and got there in time for the pre-orientation meeting. Today and tomorrow are pre-orientation, because people are still arriving. Actual orientation doesn't start until Wednesday, August 31st. However, I was able to get a lot stuff taken care of today.
After the meeting, I took a campus tour. Then I was going to turn in my paperwork which I had filled out earlier that morning, but I had left it in the dorm! I ended up walking back to the dorm, getting the paperwork, and walking back to the campus. Keep in mind that the dorms are a 30 minute walk from the middle of campus, in the heat and humidity. Well, I made it back to campus alright, and met up with a girl from Iceland, who is in my dorm, and we had lunch in one of the cafeterias. Then I headed over to the Shomu-bu (which I don't know the translation of, but must be something like the business office) and paid the deposit fee. Outside of this office, a Japanese student came up and asked me if she could speak English with me and hang out for a bit. I said sure, why not? And we walked over to the CIE to drop off my forms. I had a bit of trouble with the insurance form, because I forgot to make a copy of the insurance card. I ended up going up and down the stairs a few times, because the copier is on the 1st floor, and the form dropping off room is on the 2nd floor. Then I signed up for a time to get my laptop registered, and was done with most of the paperwork.
Aiko (my new Japanese friend) and I went to sit in the CIE student lounge area and talked for a while. She is majoring in Spanish, but wants to learn more English too. Sadly, she missed the application deadline to be a speaking partner, so she is trying to meet a lot of the foreign exchange students. Two other Japanese students walked in the door and walked past and looked at us, so I said hi. Trying to be friendly you know? Well, apparently I was acting oddly, because there were quite a few confused looks flying back and forth between the four of us. Eventually, they figured out I was an exchange student (and so allowed to be a little odd), and they sat down and introduced themselves and started asking me and Aiko questions in a strange, but understandable mix of Japanese and English. I answered them back in my halted Japanese and a lot of English. It turns out that they were 2nd year students, and one was studying English and wants to visit America, while the other is studying French. They were all surprised to hear that I also spoke French. We talked for about an hour, until I had to head off to the last meeting of the day.
This last meeting was a banking session, where we filled out the paperwork that will allow us to open a Japanese bank account. It's required for all students who get a meal stipend. It's the only way for the university to give us the stipend money each month, and it also allows us to receive transfers from overseas. The only problem is that it takes three weeks for the account to be set up and finalized, so we won't be able to get any money through those accounts until the end of September.
It's 6:30pm here now, and I'm back at the dorm room, which I have to myself for the time being. I'm debating between taking a nap and getting some dinner. I'm quite tired from being outside most of the day and jet-lag of course, and not very hungry. But it's dinner time so I should eat something. *sigh* I also need to study some more, so I can do well on my test tomorrow. Decisions, decisions.
Well, goodbye for now. I shall write again tomorrow.
Let's see...I left off last time with me falling asleep on Saturday night, so I will be telling you about Sunday and Monday.
Sunday
I woke up around 7:15-7:30, getting about 7 hours of sleep. The covering over the window doesn't keep out the light AT ALL! And my room faces the east, so the sun comes streaming in with its wake-up call. I didn't feel tired though, so I got up. The third roommate came in a little while later. She seems very...bubbly. She came with a group of 10 students from her school, so she mostly hangs out with them. My other temporary roommate is more like me, quiet around strangers and keeps to herself.
A group of us went exploring around 10am. The size and people kept changing. First we went to one of the other Seminar Houses and met up with more people. Then the group split up to go find a restaurant. The group I stuck with ended up at this cafe place called Cafe de Raffinee, in the park between the Seminar Houses. They had some good food: curry and rice, pasta with either salmon, tuna, or eggplant, and chicken teriyaki were some of the dishes we ordered.
After this, the group split up again, with my group headed towards the campus. We found our way to the Main Gate. There are four gates, the East Gate is the closest to the Seminar Houses, but it leads to the Athletic Fields, so you still have to walk a ways in campus to get to the main buildings. The Main and South Gates are very close to each other, and the Main Gate opens onto the main quad area. The two most important buildings for International students are right there-the Library/Media Center on the left and the Center for International Education (CIE) on the right. We explored a bit and then headed back to the dorms. On the way we stopped by a supermarket and a konbini (コンビニ) (convenience store, pronounced like the first part of convenience, only with a "b" instead of the "v") to pick up some dinner and breakfast supplies.
That took most of the day, and we were exhausted from the heat by the time we got back. I started studying for the Japanese placement exam, which I will take on Tuesday morning. I took a shower, which was an interesting endevor when it came to drying off. Since I'm doing a homestay, I didn't bring a towel, because those would be provided. The information given about orientation also said that we wouldn't need to bring any linen. However, whereas bed linens were provided, towels were not. I wrung out my hair and braided it to keep it from soaking my clothes and then tried to shake off as much water from the rest of me as I could. It was weird, but it got the job done. I tried to stay up later, so I could try skyping with my family, but I was too tired and ending up going to bed at 9pm.
Monday
I woke up when the sun started coming in at 6am, but held out for a more normal wake-up time at 7am. I took my time getting dressed and eating an onigiri ( おにぎり) {rice ball, pronounced o-ne(as in neat)-gi(as in give)-re(as in really)} Then we walked to the campus and got there in time for the pre-orientation meeting. Today and tomorrow are pre-orientation, because people are still arriving. Actual orientation doesn't start until Wednesday, August 31st. However, I was able to get a lot stuff taken care of today.
After the meeting, I took a campus tour. Then I was going to turn in my paperwork which I had filled out earlier that morning, but I had left it in the dorm! I ended up walking back to the dorm, getting the paperwork, and walking back to the campus. Keep in mind that the dorms are a 30 minute walk from the middle of campus, in the heat and humidity. Well, I made it back to campus alright, and met up with a girl from Iceland, who is in my dorm, and we had lunch in one of the cafeterias. Then I headed over to the Shomu-bu (which I don't know the translation of, but must be something like the business office) and paid the deposit fee. Outside of this office, a Japanese student came up and asked me if she could speak English with me and hang out for a bit. I said sure, why not? And we walked over to the CIE to drop off my forms. I had a bit of trouble with the insurance form, because I forgot to make a copy of the insurance card. I ended up going up and down the stairs a few times, because the copier is on the 1st floor, and the form dropping off room is on the 2nd floor. Then I signed up for a time to get my laptop registered, and was done with most of the paperwork.
Aiko (my new Japanese friend) and I went to sit in the CIE student lounge area and talked for a while. She is majoring in Spanish, but wants to learn more English too. Sadly, she missed the application deadline to be a speaking partner, so she is trying to meet a lot of the foreign exchange students. Two other Japanese students walked in the door and walked past and looked at us, so I said hi. Trying to be friendly you know? Well, apparently I was acting oddly, because there were quite a few confused looks flying back and forth between the four of us. Eventually, they figured out I was an exchange student (and so allowed to be a little odd), and they sat down and introduced themselves and started asking me and Aiko questions in a strange, but understandable mix of Japanese and English. I answered them back in my halted Japanese and a lot of English. It turns out that they were 2nd year students, and one was studying English and wants to visit America, while the other is studying French. They were all surprised to hear that I also spoke French. We talked for about an hour, until I had to head off to the last meeting of the day.
This last meeting was a banking session, where we filled out the paperwork that will allow us to open a Japanese bank account. It's required for all students who get a meal stipend. It's the only way for the university to give us the stipend money each month, and it also allows us to receive transfers from overseas. The only problem is that it takes three weeks for the account to be set up and finalized, so we won't be able to get any money through those accounts until the end of September.
It's 6:30pm here now, and I'm back at the dorm room, which I have to myself for the time being. I'm debating between taking a nap and getting some dinner. I'm quite tired from being outside most of the day and jet-lag of course, and not very hungry. But it's dinner time so I should eat something. *sigh* I also need to study some more, so I can do well on my test tomorrow. Decisions, decisions.
Well, goodbye for now. I shall write again tomorrow.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The First Adventure
Hello readers, how goes it?
You ready? It's time. Time for the beginning of the adventures. Prepare your minds, buckle up, and hold on tight 'cause there's no turning back now. Do you feel it? The tingle of nerves all over your body letting you know that you're about to do something new and exciting and quite possible completely insane? Yeah, me too. But I'm going to do it anyway, 'cause that's the way I roll.
Alright, it's time to go.
Breathe.
Inhale. Exhale.
Lift-off.
* * * * *
This first adventure started at 6:15 this morning when Grandma Beth woke me up. I got Dunkin' Donuts and Oberwise chocolate milk in a mug for breakfast on the go! Traffic was annoying, but not too bad. We got to the International terminal at O’Hare airport only to find out that Japan Airlines is in terminal 3 for unknown reasons. (I mean really! Why is a large international airline NOT in the international terminal?? Someone please explain this to me.)
We had left with plenty of time, so I was still doing check-in at nine o'clock for my 11:25 departure time. Goodbyes were said and Mom, Dad, and Grandma stood outside security until I made it through. Both my nail clippers and knitting needles made it through security! YAY!
My on-time-is-late-early-is-on-time and really-early-is-better-and-hours-to-wait-is-best mind is at rest. I'm at the gate an hour and a half early for boarding, which means I'm 2 hours early for departure. I'm sitting here, and I've got my duty free bottled water and cheez-its and a book so I'm good to go. :D I'm at the very farthest end of the terminal, which means I get to see planes coming in from the runway - fun times!
Well, that's all for now. I'm going to read a bit, watch the planes come it, and try to spot my plane. Talk to you in Narita.
* * * * *
Hey, Look! We're in Narita already! Isn't time travel great? :D Immigration was very full, but I made it through. It was mostly standing in line, exchanging some hand motions, handing over passport/boarding passes/visa/other forms, and then using my limited Japanese to say hello and thank you.
After immigration, I got to find my bags, take them through customs, then check them again. Why? I don't know, but that's how it works apparently. I also stopped by the currency exchange booth and have now handled my first purchase with Japanese yen. I got a bottle of water, brand name Aquarius. It's got a refreshing citrus taste. I had it the last time I was here, and it's just as good as I remember.
The flight was long and uninteresting. I got pretty good food, especially for airplane food. I watched some movies and read some and slept some. My favorite part was when we were landing. My seat partners had moved back to an empty row, so I opened the window and got to watch us descend through the cloud layers. In between flashes of intense white light, I saw fluffy cloud-scapes and blue sky!
I've already ran in to quite a few other students who will be studying at Kansai with me. I'm sitting at the gate now. (Again near the end of the terminal...bit odd that.) I've got an hour to boarding time, which means it time to pull out my book again!
I've had bad luck with the airport internet connections so I probably won't be posting this until I get to the Seminar House and guaranteed internet. Which means I'll probably write to you again at Itami airport in Osaka, while we wait for the pick-up service.
* * * * *
I'm here in the Seminar House now. The flight from Narita to Itami was very short, maybe an hour and a half total from boarding to disembarking. There were some kids from Kansai there already, and we had a good sized group on the flight I was on. However, there was another flight coming in around 8pm, so we had to wait for them. I went with a couple of students and we ate at a restaurant that was near our luggage pile. I had cold noodles with eggplant, shrimp, and soy sauce, with a side dish of rice and carrots. Yum yum! The green tea we were served had another flavor in it. Sort of coffee flavored. It wasn't horrible, but I'm not a coffee fan, so I didn't really like it.
We had an hour bus ride to the Seminar Houses. I unloaded my bags into the room I'm sharing with two other girls. (Only one is here so far.) My roommate is also doing homestay, so neither of us will be staying in this room more than a week. It's quite small, even for only two students. The futon beds are odd. Neither of us are exactly sure how they are supposed to be put together, but I'm tired enough not to care too much.
Some of the Kansai students (RAs for the seminar houses) took a group of us on a walk to the closest supermarket. I got some food and water for tomorrow, because the school's cafeteria isn't open until Monday. I'm still not having any luck getting an internet connection on my laptop. The check-in paperwork says that I should be able to connect in the Seminar House using a LAN cable, which I have. My computer says it's connected to the school's network, but not to the internet. I don't know, and none of the RAs seem to know what I or the other students mean when we bring it up. They just directed us to the computer lounges in the houses.
Since it's past midnight here now, which means I've been awake for...oh...about....26 hours, I'm off to bed and this will get posted online sometime tomorrow.
Oyasuminasai! (Goodnight!)
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Testing, testing
Hi there!
So, this is my first time writing a blog. The reason I'm doing so, is because I'm going to be across the world from my family and friends for the majority of the next year. I suppose I could have just had a huge email list in order to send updates to everyone, but I also hope that other people will stumble across this and be able to use my experiences to further their understanding of the languages and cultures in which I'll be immersing myself. This form of communication will also give me a higher motivation to actually write down my experiences, and record my thoughts about life in other countries.
Japan's first on my list. I'll be attending Kansai Gaidai in Hirakata for the Fall semester. Christmas time will see me back in the States for a bit. Then, it's off to France. I'll be at Hollins' Abroad Branch in Paris for the Spring semester.
I'm not headed off until August 26th. I probably won't post anything more until then. There won't be any exciting adventures going on, just the last few days of relaxation and then a scramble of packing. Look for my next post sometime on the 27th, after I've actually landed in Japan.
Well, here goes nothing!
So, this is my first time writing a blog. The reason I'm doing so, is because I'm going to be across the world from my family and friends for the majority of the next year. I suppose I could have just had a huge email list in order to send updates to everyone, but I also hope that other people will stumble across this and be able to use my experiences to further their understanding of the languages and cultures in which I'll be immersing myself. This form of communication will also give me a higher motivation to actually write down my experiences, and record my thoughts about life in other countries.
Japan's first on my list. I'll be attending Kansai Gaidai in Hirakata for the Fall semester. Christmas time will see me back in the States for a bit. Then, it's off to France. I'll be at Hollins' Abroad Branch in Paris for the Spring semester.
I'm not headed off until August 26th. I probably won't post anything more until then. There won't be any exciting adventures going on, just the last few days of relaxation and then a scramble of packing. Look for my next post sometime on the 27th, after I've actually landed in Japan.
Well, here goes nothing!
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