It happened, didn't it? Though I promised that I would be actively updating this blog for everyone, it looks like I failed doesn't it? Oh well, not much point wasting words on what happened, but I'm sorry for everyone following. I know it's rough trying to know what someone is doing but being shut in the dark. I was in similar circumstances last semester when I was following another Texas A&M student that went to KGU, which was why I was so adamant about updating regularly. (My internet access has been spotty at points, but I understand that is just an excuse.)
Anyways, a lot has happened. For starters, I have left my host family behind. It's not that I didn't want relations to work out between me and my host family, but it simply became too much living under their roof. That was on the fourth of this month. Due to a miscommunication between me and the international office at KGU, I wasn't able to properly say goodbye either. I had gotten my room together and my luggage at ready and I thought that I would be going with someone from the international office to get my luggage. When I went to the office to move into my new residence, it turned out they already had gotten my luggage and we wouldn't be stopping by there like I thought we would. Even worse, the person from KGU was told to take everything, even the Christmas presents I stashed away that my mother had gotten for them before the split was even a thought in my mind. It turned out that they would not be accepting any Christmas presents from me.
I don't think I've burned a bridge before in my life and it looks like I did, but this is something I've come to accept about the situation. I really tried to make things work out and make the best of it; however, they were the ones preventing relations from progressing. For a guest that they accepted into their home, they didn't treat me too well. I was told to mind what I said at times and think about the effect my words had on others, but they didn't even follow their own advice. They would often say whatever they would please about me, and a lot of very negative energy came from their direction. So after dealing with it for almost three months, I left. I was partially inspired by stories from other exchange students that had left their host families. Whenever asked about my host family life, my story would always start out as, "My host family is nice, *but*...", and I didn't pay enough attention to that key word. I had been trying to downplay their faults and live with the situation. Some things just aren't meant to be. I wish it had worked out. When I found out that I was going to be getting a host family in July, I was so happy and I was looking forward to all the memories and bonds I would be creating with them. That part is why I held out for as long as I did. Simply, what I had envisioned about host family life before the trip and what I ended up getting were very different. I have very fond memories of my previous host family from my five week study abroad in 2010, even though that was for just a week.
I've been much happier since then, so it was for the best. I'm now living in a dorm that is much closer to KGU. I'm so thankful to the staff at the KGU International Office for being able to arrange this because all the "official" KGU dorms were booked. As a result, I'm the only westerner living at this new dorm. There's a mix of Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese; high school students, university students, and businessmen. I've made multiple acquaintances and friends here, usually in the "Japanese style" bath. Just like a hot spring, you'd think you'd be uncomfortable being naked in front of everyone else especially when you are determinedly the outsider in the situation, but it's not that complicated. You just take off all your clothes and do your business, everyone else is doing the same. It's not as embarrassing as you'd think. In particular, I've made one really good friend after chatting in the bath. I thought it was just another acquaintance, but after I mentioned that my favorite J-Pop singer is Mizuki Nana we had quite a long chat. It turns out I met another really big anime fan like me and I now somewhat regularly chat with him about things.
It was with his help that I was able to find some visual novels for my computer, which has been a great deal of "off-the-clock" Japanese practice you could say. It's great because with the voices there is listening practice and with the Japanese subtitles there is reading practice. It's not a good substitute for real conversation practice as it really doesn't require any input on your part, but it's still exposure to Japanese. It's also one of the exit strategies I've been assembling for when I have to return home and suddenly not surrounded in the Japanese environment like I am now. I have been very troubled at the idea of losing speaking ability when I return home and lack the immersion aspect.
To an extent, I haven't exactly been helping matters here. My methodology for tackling a language class hasn't changed much here and while I've been thinking about good solutions to the issue, it's mainly an issue of not doing the extra work to learn a language for real. I'm still doing the minimal to get by in my Japanese language classes and while I do manage to get the returns for my grades, it doesn't gain me long-term speaking ability or retention. It doesn't help that I probably took on one elective too many in addition to my language courses. I needed 12 credit hours to be considered a full-time student at Texas A&M and I registered for 14, which wasn't so bad for a while. I had just been showing up to several of my classes in the beginning, but it's a lot of reading to do for each course. There are also these short papers that I knew all about from the syllabus, but I ignored them until December so I have really been caught up doing work for my electives.
The good news is that the next semester is the Winter Intensive semester. I'm having to take Introductory Korean in preparation for my South Korea fieldwork in March, but otherwise, it's just Japanese language classes. From Monday and Friday, there will be two Japanese classes everyday. I hoping I'll get my act together on really making sure that what I learn gets entrenched in long-term memory and not just in the short-term before the quiz, like I've been doing. I don't really know what is the best method for making sure I'm engaged with my language studies from day to day. Don't get me wrong, on some weeks, I'm pretty good about engaging myself, but it doesn't seem to last. Perhaps I'm just doing too much at once and then burning out over and over and over. I can't seem to find a happy middle ground. I guess some would argue that playing visual novels and reading manga are positive engaging ways for long-term, but doing those it doesn't feel like I'm studying and though it is an extra layer of immersion, how much am I really learning from doing that? I use my electronic dictionary when I'm playing visual novels in particular, and there's a lot of words I keep having to look up even though I've looked them up before. I need to figure it out quick before I reach the end of my trip and return to life in an English-speaking country so that this academic year doesn't go to waste.
The reason I've been able to write a very lengthy post like this (which was actually addressed in the title) is because it's a sort of Christmas/New Year's break right now. I don't have class again until the seventh of January I think. While this break might end up feeling short, after we take final exams and attend our final classes of the semester, there is an even longer break before the Winter Intensive semester. As a result, I'm feeling a bit relaxed at the moment. This previous week in particular was very difficult (due to my fault I know). I had two presentations and two papers. With the exception of one presentation, I had to bring up everything from nothing. Though I had an entire semester to be working on these things, I left them to right before they were due. I got away with it again I think, but I can't keep working like this. It is a very stressful way of going about things.
That's enough for now. I know it doesn't make up for all the silence since my previous post, but it's an update for now. I would like to promise that the next update will be soon, but you know how that turned out last time, haha.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Orientation
I've been in Japan for one week and two days now. This first week has been an orientation week and we will be starting classes on Thursday. It has been an orientation week on several levels: getting around, knowing university expectations, and familiarizing ourselves with the accommodation situation, in my case a home stay.
I'll suppose I'll start with academics. We had our first day at KGU on Monday and right from the get-go we had a placement test, no putting it off. Registration for classes would be impossible without knowing the results, so it is understandable. Plus, we had all summer to prepare for the placement test so it was now or never. I learned that the international students numbered 101 from 23 different countries, so we didn't all test together. We were separated into groups A, B, C, and D, and separated further A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, etc etc. After meeting in the main room of Building G, we divided into two, in my case: Groups A and C in the same testing room. I imagined this was to separate the Japan and East Asia Study group and Language Intensive group, but there was still a mix (probably not exactly even numbers either).
The first half of the test tested Grammar and Reading as well as Kanji. We were directed to do these sections as we wanted, so I started with Kanji. It turned out that I knew a mix of Kanji, some in earlier sections, some in later sections; however, there was a lot of Kanji that I had never seen before. Not only that, but interesting testing scenarios I hadn't thought of like: What is the opposite of each kanji? 高い (high) to what? It was a way I hadn't been tested before for Kanji and proved to be interesting. The Reading and Grammar section went pretty well I think. It tested particles, using the correct forms of verbs, and filling in the blank with the correct term. The first two sections weren't so bad, but the last section was far beyond my capabilities. I think there was around 33 questions for the final section and I answered around 4 (We were told not to guess).
We had a small break after testing those sections and afterwards we tested for writing and essay as well as the Interview. Since I was the first person in A-3, I went to the interview almost immediately after starting this half of the test. The beginning of the interview was very basic. I planned on using humble form in regards to myself (like でございます instead of です and I did just that and I was quickly told to switch to be more casual. That was good I thought, but after the simple questions I was given a prompt. A very simple prompt "Why have you chosen Japanese as a foreign language to study?", but the fact they asked me to talk about that for a minute made me freeze up a bit. I sort of stumbled and bumbled my way through my answer, I recounted the history of my Japanese studies, starting from my introduction to the language to the determination to study it until I became fluent. After that, another prompt! Hoo, boy! This one was a role play in which I wanted to borrow a book from the teacher. I think that one went better since it was a bit formulaic. Finally, the interviewer noted in Japanese, "You do realize Japan is different from anime and manga, correct?" That made me question the whole reasons as to why I began Japanese studies since the way he phrased it made it seem like a silly starting point for language studies, but I answered more or less, "Anime is a reflection of Japanese society. While there is a lot of exaggeration and things that aren't quite true in it, there are some things that are an accurate portrayal." We bid each other well and I proceeded back to the room.
The writing section was short, twenty sentences that had a certain structure with a free-form fill-in-the-blank. That didn't go too well. There were sentence endings that I had simply never seen before as well as beginnings of sentences that I had never seen before. I felt as if I filled several blanks with more or less the same concept. The essay section had three different prompts in which we had to pick a side. I chose the prompt that said, "Which is better for watching movies? In the theater or at home?" I picked the side at home arguing that recently people are inconsiderate of others at the movie theater, but I only know that is the case with America. I felt like I repeated the word movie theater too many times to make up for the required 400 character count. Then just like that, the test was over.
While I had to wait several days to find out the results, you get the pleasure of reading about it and finding out right way. I placed in Japanese Intensive Track 3A-3B. The lowest section is Pre1A-1B and the highest section is 6A-6B, so I was pretty pleased with the results. I was told that I would have to work on grammar and kanji as these areas were the lowest scored areas and I was suggested that I could do Kanji at the 2A-2B level, but I declined, determined for consistency. I'll just have to double my efforts with Kanji. There were others that just accepted that they didn't place as high as they hoped and there were some that cried. I was glad that the placement test was behind me now.
We got our student ID's after the test and we met our Nihongo partners. I was supposed to have two, but the other cancelled sadly (it was a girl, too). My Nihongo partner took me to Takarazuka city hall to help me get my address registered as well as get my health insurance. I cannot emphasize enough the sheer amount of walking that took (walking to KGU also takes a lot of walking). Registration was pretty painless and I think I surprised my Nihongo partner by how much I knew on my own. He was very impressed with my Kanji. The second day, he took my on a campus tour. We talked about many things, but notably, I talked about Kabuki a bit and I did my impressions of Kabuki actors, which was pretty fun.
The home stay has been going well. I was worried since I am a fincky eater and my host mother has held no regards for my comfort zone, but it has been okay and better than expected. I've eaten a lot of things I wouldn't have normally eaten and enjoyed it a lot more than I would have expected. There have been many vegetables I haven't ever eaten before that have been fine (there have been some that weren't so good, but I managed somehow. Curse you, potatoes!). I adjusted pretty quickly to life in this host family, but I have had some bumbles recently. First, I was late for dinner one night by about ten minutes and I don't think they were too pleased (especially since it had turned out the grandmother had shown up for dinner). I was encouraged to go to my room after dinner, which made me feel isolated and out of place, but they said it was okay. Then, I forgot my key on a night on the town, which meant they had to leave the door unlocked. Finally, I left the other day while my laundry was drying and did it rain? Of course it did. They moved my clothes into the attic and not only that, they folded them up before I awoke. I've felt indebted to them, so I've been trying to help out when I can; however, my help has been denied in many cases. I don't want to feel useless.
As for getting around, that has been pretty easy. I got around easy enough in Japan two years ago with even less language knowledge and this has been cake compared to then. I don't feel too confused, but the commuter pass system is still a little odd to me (I think I've got it down now...I think). I've been to this grand mall Nishinomiya Gardens three times so far, and I've bought around $100 of merchandise from there (I've since stopped hopefully) and I've eaten there two times, fried pork cutlet with curry and rice in both cases. I also had a fruit drink from this one shop and I've got a point card with them, so I'm hoping to go there in the future.
I've also got a Japan pre-paid phone from Softbank, so I can communicate with people here now. Now, I'm just waiting for classes to start on Thursday. There is an optional orientation session on Tuesday for setting up wi-fi and how to join clubs or circles that I am going to and Monday and Wednesday are rest days. Monday in particular is a national holiday for the elderly.
What else? It takes around eight stations and two trains as well as 1.25 miles of walking to get to school. We eat something sweet and drink green tea after dinner while watching whatever is on TV every night, which is something I have enjoyed greatly. There is one show in particular that is a medieval Japan drama that I like very much, I still don't know the name of it though.
That's all for now I think! Thanks for reading!
(I felt compelled to get to bed right after writing this, so there might be spelling and grammatical errors. It took longer than expected to type out)
I'll suppose I'll start with academics. We had our first day at KGU on Monday and right from the get-go we had a placement test, no putting it off. Registration for classes would be impossible without knowing the results, so it is understandable. Plus, we had all summer to prepare for the placement test so it was now or never. I learned that the international students numbered 101 from 23 different countries, so we didn't all test together. We were separated into groups A, B, C, and D, and separated further A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, etc etc. After meeting in the main room of Building G, we divided into two, in my case: Groups A and C in the same testing room. I imagined this was to separate the Japan and East Asia Study group and Language Intensive group, but there was still a mix (probably not exactly even numbers either).
The first half of the test tested Grammar and Reading as well as Kanji. We were directed to do these sections as we wanted, so I started with Kanji. It turned out that I knew a mix of Kanji, some in earlier sections, some in later sections; however, there was a lot of Kanji that I had never seen before. Not only that, but interesting testing scenarios I hadn't thought of like: What is the opposite of each kanji? 高い (high) to what? It was a way I hadn't been tested before for Kanji and proved to be interesting. The Reading and Grammar section went pretty well I think. It tested particles, using the correct forms of verbs, and filling in the blank with the correct term. The first two sections weren't so bad, but the last section was far beyond my capabilities. I think there was around 33 questions for the final section and I answered around 4 (We were told not to guess).
We had a small break after testing those sections and afterwards we tested for writing and essay as well as the Interview. Since I was the first person in A-3, I went to the interview almost immediately after starting this half of the test. The beginning of the interview was very basic. I planned on using humble form in regards to myself (like でございます instead of です and I did just that and I was quickly told to switch to be more casual. That was good I thought, but after the simple questions I was given a prompt. A very simple prompt "Why have you chosen Japanese as a foreign language to study?", but the fact they asked me to talk about that for a minute made me freeze up a bit. I sort of stumbled and bumbled my way through my answer, I recounted the history of my Japanese studies, starting from my introduction to the language to the determination to study it until I became fluent. After that, another prompt! Hoo, boy! This one was a role play in which I wanted to borrow a book from the teacher. I think that one went better since it was a bit formulaic. Finally, the interviewer noted in Japanese, "You do realize Japan is different from anime and manga, correct?" That made me question the whole reasons as to why I began Japanese studies since the way he phrased it made it seem like a silly starting point for language studies, but I answered more or less, "Anime is a reflection of Japanese society. While there is a lot of exaggeration and things that aren't quite true in it, there are some things that are an accurate portrayal." We bid each other well and I proceeded back to the room.
The writing section was short, twenty sentences that had a certain structure with a free-form fill-in-the-blank. That didn't go too well. There were sentence endings that I had simply never seen before as well as beginnings of sentences that I had never seen before. I felt as if I filled several blanks with more or less the same concept. The essay section had three different prompts in which we had to pick a side. I chose the prompt that said, "Which is better for watching movies? In the theater or at home?" I picked the side at home arguing that recently people are inconsiderate of others at the movie theater, but I only know that is the case with America. I felt like I repeated the word movie theater too many times to make up for the required 400 character count. Then just like that, the test was over.
While I had to wait several days to find out the results, you get the pleasure of reading about it and finding out right way. I placed in Japanese Intensive Track 3A-3B. The lowest section is Pre1A-1B and the highest section is 6A-6B, so I was pretty pleased with the results. I was told that I would have to work on grammar and kanji as these areas were the lowest scored areas and I was suggested that I could do Kanji at the 2A-2B level, but I declined, determined for consistency. I'll just have to double my efforts with Kanji. There were others that just accepted that they didn't place as high as they hoped and there were some that cried. I was glad that the placement test was behind me now.
We got our student ID's after the test and we met our Nihongo partners. I was supposed to have two, but the other cancelled sadly (it was a girl, too). My Nihongo partner took me to Takarazuka city hall to help me get my address registered as well as get my health insurance. I cannot emphasize enough the sheer amount of walking that took (walking to KGU also takes a lot of walking). Registration was pretty painless and I think I surprised my Nihongo partner by how much I knew on my own. He was very impressed with my Kanji. The second day, he took my on a campus tour. We talked about many things, but notably, I talked about Kabuki a bit and I did my impressions of Kabuki actors, which was pretty fun.
The home stay has been going well. I was worried since I am a fincky eater and my host mother has held no regards for my comfort zone, but it has been okay and better than expected. I've eaten a lot of things I wouldn't have normally eaten and enjoyed it a lot more than I would have expected. There have been many vegetables I haven't ever eaten before that have been fine (there have been some that weren't so good, but I managed somehow. Curse you, potatoes!). I adjusted pretty quickly to life in this host family, but I have had some bumbles recently. First, I was late for dinner one night by about ten minutes and I don't think they were too pleased (especially since it had turned out the grandmother had shown up for dinner). I was encouraged to go to my room after dinner, which made me feel isolated and out of place, but they said it was okay. Then, I forgot my key on a night on the town, which meant they had to leave the door unlocked. Finally, I left the other day while my laundry was drying and did it rain? Of course it did. They moved my clothes into the attic and not only that, they folded them up before I awoke. I've felt indebted to them, so I've been trying to help out when I can; however, my help has been denied in many cases. I don't want to feel useless.
As for getting around, that has been pretty easy. I got around easy enough in Japan two years ago with even less language knowledge and this has been cake compared to then. I don't feel too confused, but the commuter pass system is still a little odd to me (I think I've got it down now...I think). I've been to this grand mall Nishinomiya Gardens three times so far, and I've bought around $100 of merchandise from there (I've since stopped hopefully) and I've eaten there two times, fried pork cutlet with curry and rice in both cases. I also had a fruit drink from this one shop and I've got a point card with them, so I'm hoping to go there in the future.
I've also got a Japan pre-paid phone from Softbank, so I can communicate with people here now. Now, I'm just waiting for classes to start on Thursday. There is an optional orientation session on Tuesday for setting up wi-fi and how to join clubs or circles that I am going to and Monday and Wednesday are rest days. Monday in particular is a national holiday for the elderly.
What else? It takes around eight stations and two trains as well as 1.25 miles of walking to get to school. We eat something sweet and drink green tea after dinner while watching whatever is on TV every night, which is something I have enjoyed greatly. There is one show in particular that is a medieval Japan drama that I like very much, I still don't know the name of it though.
That's all for now I think! Thanks for reading!
(I felt compelled to get to bed right after writing this, so there might be spelling and grammatical errors. It took longer than expected to type out)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
At the Gate
Here I am! It is only a matter of time before they start calling for boarding and I will be on the way. Today was my first experience with a connecting flight and I'm happy to say that it went smoothly. In fact, my first plane took off and they said we'd be around forty minutes earlier than expected! How about that?
It is at this moment that I am reminded of a book my parents gave me before I went off to college titled 'Oh, the places you will go' by Dr. Seuss. The places I will go indeed! I wouldn't have imagined upon receiving that book four years ago that I would be on my SECOND trip to Japan now.
I could go on listing more and more references for the beginning of my adventure, but I will close with this for now. I feel the words of Auron from Final Fantasy X echoing within me now, "This is it. This is your story. It all begins here."
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Pre-Travel Jitters
I want to go to Japan. There is no question about that; however, as I get ever closer to my depart time, part of my mind can't help think, "Just what am I getting myself into?" For the past few months, the issue with contacting the idea of going 6,800 miles away has always been, "Well, it's still a long ways a way. I'm just waiting for the moment and it's not really something to be worried about." Now, suddenly, I'm hit with all of it and all at once. The true scope and depth of it all, "I'm going 6,800 MILES AWAY to a country where my native language doesn't really mean ANYTHING!" It can be quite a rush thinking about it.
The majority of my mind is pretty pleased that everything is about to unfold, about 95% of it, "Of course! I get to get Japanese language practice like never before! I get to IMMERSE myself in it! How cool is that? Just imagine the improvements to my ability! I'll make so many new friends and have so many conversations in Japanese!" This is the viewpoint that I always go to when that 5% pipes up and says, "You're crazy! Going so far away out of the safety net you've created! What's wrong with staying in America?" I imagine this process is much like someone getting ready to get married. You know you want to and you've come to every reasonable conclusion that you should, but when you get down to it, a part of you goes, "I don't know..." Just like that, it is a bit of a big commitment coming down to the idea of leaving the familiarity of your own country.
While I have gone on a study abroad before, this one is different. The previous one was under the guidance of Texas A&M Faculty. There is a certain level of guidance here too, but it is more on your own. So, while I know what to expect when getting over there this time, I won't always have a faculty member nearby to help me along. This is frightening, but it's life. Like the child leaving the parent, I, too, must learn to adapt and live on my own without nearly as much guidance from faculty members. The previous study abroad was a trial and this one is the true test, one that I hope to succeed in with flying colors.
Essentially, all this really boils down is that the whole situation is like going to my first day of elementary school albeit on a much grander scale, but I can remember lying in my bed with butterflies going in my stomach back then just like now. I had a general sense of what was going to happen, but it was a bit of a big question mark. I have a general sense over what is going to happen over the next few days, but I can only imagine it, I won't know for sure until I live it.
I would say that I'm ready. I am more than ready to go on this study abroad; I've been waiting for it all summer after all. But still! I can't help but be a little nervous. Going into a new future and leaving the present and past behind is always scary after all. (And aside from philosophical thoughts about going away, I'm also very concerned with technical details like, "Will my luggage all make it there? Will I make my connecting flight? Will the weather hold up at all locations of the journey?")
Aside from the understandable nervousness, I will be there soon! Exciting! Finally time for things to happen, I've been tired of just sitting around in the waiting stage! Time to start!
The majority of my mind is pretty pleased that everything is about to unfold, about 95% of it, "Of course! I get to get Japanese language practice like never before! I get to IMMERSE myself in it! How cool is that? Just imagine the improvements to my ability! I'll make so many new friends and have so many conversations in Japanese!" This is the viewpoint that I always go to when that 5% pipes up and says, "You're crazy! Going so far away out of the safety net you've created! What's wrong with staying in America?" I imagine this process is much like someone getting ready to get married. You know you want to and you've come to every reasonable conclusion that you should, but when you get down to it, a part of you goes, "I don't know..." Just like that, it is a bit of a big commitment coming down to the idea of leaving the familiarity of your own country.
While I have gone on a study abroad before, this one is different. The previous one was under the guidance of Texas A&M Faculty. There is a certain level of guidance here too, but it is more on your own. So, while I know what to expect when getting over there this time, I won't always have a faculty member nearby to help me along. This is frightening, but it's life. Like the child leaving the parent, I, too, must learn to adapt and live on my own without nearly as much guidance from faculty members. The previous study abroad was a trial and this one is the true test, one that I hope to succeed in with flying colors.
Essentially, all this really boils down is that the whole situation is like going to my first day of elementary school albeit on a much grander scale, but I can remember lying in my bed with butterflies going in my stomach back then just like now. I had a general sense of what was going to happen, but it was a bit of a big question mark. I have a general sense over what is going to happen over the next few days, but I can only imagine it, I won't know for sure until I live it.
I would say that I'm ready. I am more than ready to go on this study abroad; I've been waiting for it all summer after all. But still! I can't help but be a little nervous. Going into a new future and leaving the present and past behind is always scary after all. (And aside from philosophical thoughts about going away, I'm also very concerned with technical details like, "Will my luggage all make it there? Will I make my connecting flight? Will the weather hold up at all locations of the journey?")
Aside from the understandable nervousness, I will be there soon! Exciting! Finally time for things to happen, I've been tired of just sitting around in the waiting stage! Time to start!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Introduction and Thank You
Welcome! Welcome to what will be my blog for my 2012-2013 Japan Study Abroad! I had a bit of a rough start with this blog since it was marked as spam upon creation, but my appeal was successful so everything should be good now. I know a lot of you are probably coming here from a note I will be posting to Facebook, so supposing I lose access again, I'll inform you of where the alternate location to follow my adventures will be. For the moment, this is the official location by which to follow my adventures in Japan for this academic year.
I'll introduce myself again for those not coming via my Facebook note. I am Zach Drew, a super senior at Texas A&M University. I am going on an Academic Year Study Abroad to Japan as a reciprocal exchange student at Kwansei Gakuin University. This is a decision I came to as I approached the end of the Japanese Language Courses offered at Texas A&M University. I still need International Experience for my International Studies major, but fulfilling a requirement is not why I am going to Japan. I am a student of the Japanese language and I refuse to stop until there is nothing left to learn. I am going to Japan for the purpose of continuing my language studies as well as expanding my cultural knowledge of Japan. I'm not concerned with filling out a box on my transcript as much as I am with learning even more than I have now.
So now, here I am three days before I depart America. I have filled out forms too numerous to count and met with all kinds of people to get this trip to become a reality. While I've done everything in my power to go to Kwansei Gakuin University, I didn't get here alone, so I must first say thank you to everyone who has gotten me to this point. (I don't know how everyone else feels about having their names written out, so I'm choosing to address you in a way that might seem impersonal.)
Thank you, Japanese Professors at Texas A&M University! Back when I had completed Japanese 101, my parents had suggested that I could major in Japanese at an alternate university in Texas. I couldn't possibly leave the Japanese program at Texas A&M; I trusted the teaching methods and professors teaching them completely and I still trust you. I would remain to that decision that I made back in Fall 2009 today. Thank you for your guidance and thank you for your patience whenever I came to you with new questions. I could tell that you cared that we all learned the material, even if that material was beyond the textbooks for our classes. My Japanese classes at Texas A&M were some of my finest educational experiences. They were the most pleasing education enrollment I've undertaken.
Thank you, my fellow Japanese classmates! I know not everyone kept at it until Japanese 302, I know there were many that stopped at some earlier class, but I thank you all the same. I would not have looked forward to class as much if my peers weren't equally as interested, but I'm happy to know that everyone else was equally engaged with the material. You all aren't just classmates, but friends. I'm glad to have met all of you.
Thank you, Japanese conversation partners that came to our Japanese classes! I enjoyed practicing and conversing with you guys. I hope I get to see those who have returned to Japan when I go over there!
Also, thank you, fellow TAMU in Tokyo 2010 participants! I really regret that we all parted ways for the most part following the conclusion of that program. I know I seemed a bit grouchy during the program, but I do consider you all to be my friends. I just think my first experience with culture shock went a little sour, so that you experienced that and if you still harbor any ill feelings about me. If I could go back, I would be more positive. I did enjoy my time there and with you all, even if it didn't seem like I did at the time. I'm still hoping that we can have a TAMU in Tokyo 2010 reunion of sorts sometime, but I guess we won't get the chance.
Thank you, friends! Many of you weren't directly involved with my interests in Japan, but you all have had some kind of indirect impact on the decisions that have led me to this trip. I know I came to a decision to pursue my studies of the Japanese language full-time because of some of the conversations I had with some of you. That's how I came to the realization that I didn't want to pursue business as my major.
Finally, thank you to my family and extended family, especially my parents! I know it's difficult for you to see me go, but I'm glad to know that you support what I'm doing. I'm glad that you never made me feel like doing something like going to Japan was beyond my grasp. I love you and I will miss you! It will be difficult parting ways at the airport terminal, but it's just something that will have to happen. Life goes on. (And thank you to our cats. I'll keep this short since you all weren't too involved with this whole process (and probably didn't care) and since cats can't read English (as far as I know), but thanks for putting up with my shenanigans this summer.)
...and thank you for reading, reader! I'll try to keep you updated! Expect more posts to come soon! I will be leaving for Japan on September 6th!
I'll introduce myself again for those not coming via my Facebook note. I am Zach Drew, a super senior at Texas A&M University. I am going on an Academic Year Study Abroad to Japan as a reciprocal exchange student at Kwansei Gakuin University. This is a decision I came to as I approached the end of the Japanese Language Courses offered at Texas A&M University. I still need International Experience for my International Studies major, but fulfilling a requirement is not why I am going to Japan. I am a student of the Japanese language and I refuse to stop until there is nothing left to learn. I am going to Japan for the purpose of continuing my language studies as well as expanding my cultural knowledge of Japan. I'm not concerned with filling out a box on my transcript as much as I am with learning even more than I have now.
So now, here I am three days before I depart America. I have filled out forms too numerous to count and met with all kinds of people to get this trip to become a reality. While I've done everything in my power to go to Kwansei Gakuin University, I didn't get here alone, so I must first say thank you to everyone who has gotten me to this point. (I don't know how everyone else feels about having their names written out, so I'm choosing to address you in a way that might seem impersonal.)
Thank you, Japanese Professors at Texas A&M University! Back when I had completed Japanese 101, my parents had suggested that I could major in Japanese at an alternate university in Texas. I couldn't possibly leave the Japanese program at Texas A&M; I trusted the teaching methods and professors teaching them completely and I still trust you. I would remain to that decision that I made back in Fall 2009 today. Thank you for your guidance and thank you for your patience whenever I came to you with new questions. I could tell that you cared that we all learned the material, even if that material was beyond the textbooks for our classes. My Japanese classes at Texas A&M were some of my finest educational experiences. They were the most pleasing education enrollment I've undertaken.
Thank you, my fellow Japanese classmates! I know not everyone kept at it until Japanese 302, I know there were many that stopped at some earlier class, but I thank you all the same. I would not have looked forward to class as much if my peers weren't equally as interested, but I'm happy to know that everyone else was equally engaged with the material. You all aren't just classmates, but friends. I'm glad to have met all of you.
Thank you, Japanese conversation partners that came to our Japanese classes! I enjoyed practicing and conversing with you guys. I hope I get to see those who have returned to Japan when I go over there!
Also, thank you, fellow TAMU in Tokyo 2010 participants! I really regret that we all parted ways for the most part following the conclusion of that program. I know I seemed a bit grouchy during the program, but I do consider you all to be my friends. I just think my first experience with culture shock went a little sour, so that you experienced that and if you still harbor any ill feelings about me. If I could go back, I would be more positive. I did enjoy my time there and with you all, even if it didn't seem like I did at the time. I'm still hoping that we can have a TAMU in Tokyo 2010 reunion of sorts sometime, but I guess we won't get the chance.
Thank you, friends! Many of you weren't directly involved with my interests in Japan, but you all have had some kind of indirect impact on the decisions that have led me to this trip. I know I came to a decision to pursue my studies of the Japanese language full-time because of some of the conversations I had with some of you. That's how I came to the realization that I didn't want to pursue business as my major.
Finally, thank you to my family and extended family, especially my parents! I know it's difficult for you to see me go, but I'm glad to know that you support what I'm doing. I'm glad that you never made me feel like doing something like going to Japan was beyond my grasp. I love you and I will miss you! It will be difficult parting ways at the airport terminal, but it's just something that will have to happen. Life goes on. (And thank you to our cats. I'll keep this short since you all weren't too involved with this whole process (and probably didn't care) and since cats can't read English (as far as I know), but thanks for putting up with my shenanigans this summer.)
...and thank you for reading, reader! I'll try to keep you updated! Expect more posts to come soon! I will be leaving for Japan on September 6th!
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