This has been a rather uneventful week because of 2 exams and 2 papers. Last night, I had to pull an all nighter to complete everything, and also out of fear that if I fell asleep, I'd miss class.
I really need to invest in a new alarm clock, and maybe a keitai (cell phone).
I'm planning a trip to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara soon, but my friends and I are being extremely unorganized. We've decided how to get there, but as for lodgin when we're there, we are CLUELESS.
During my cultural exchange on Wednesday, I met some kids from Osaka and Hyougo. They told me a little about their hometowns and on our official meeting on Thursday, they elaborated on how I should visit West Japan and in what order I should visit the cities.
I'm getting some guidance, but I'm still totally unsure of where to go and what to do.
Also, because of my workload, I haven't been training much this week. BUT... TOMORROW IS K-1 MAX!! WHOOOOO!!!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Help from the office
Ever since Saturday night, not much has been going on.
I met my homestay parent's friend, who is currently learning English. Our language exchange was a good experience. We later went to an Italian restaurant and had dish after dish or oyster items. Apparently, it's high oyster season right now.
Once that was over, I just got home and went to bed.
On Monday, I did my thing in class. I finally bought all my books, put them in my locker, and when I went back, I realized I had accidentally changed my combination number to something totally random. So I went down to the office, and I got help right away. The people in TUJ are so much more helpful than the people at Temple Main. At Temple Main, people act like helping you is a major chore for them, especially when its their fault. For example, I was double charged for my meal plan. When I addressed, I got nothing but attitude - and it wasn't my fault at all. But this, on the other hand, was all my fault, but once I told her, she took care of it right away.
Later that night, I went to Silver Wolf and from a block away, I heard a guy yelling and hitting the bag. As I kept walking, I wondered who it was. I go up, and it was MASATO. You guys know he rules, right? This was my first time seeing Masato's training, and he was in good shape.
After Masato was done on the bags, I started hitting the bags and the Thai trainer corrects my stuff. Afterwards, he pulls me into the ring for padwork and just outside the ropes is MASATO, stretching and watching. I paid my homage to him by ripping the pads up as if I never had before. It was the shit.
I then did more training in the class and then a conditioning class with Daiguji-san. I was beat, so I went home, ate, and went to bed.
Today, I got a lot of classwork, so I'm going to get that all done tonight and unfortunatley, not train.
I met my homestay parent's friend, who is currently learning English. Our language exchange was a good experience. We later went to an Italian restaurant and had dish after dish or oyster items. Apparently, it's high oyster season right now.
Once that was over, I just got home and went to bed.
On Monday, I did my thing in class. I finally bought all my books, put them in my locker, and when I went back, I realized I had accidentally changed my combination number to something totally random. So I went down to the office, and I got help right away. The people in TUJ are so much more helpful than the people at Temple Main. At Temple Main, people act like helping you is a major chore for them, especially when its their fault. For example, I was double charged for my meal plan. When I addressed, I got nothing but attitude - and it wasn't my fault at all. But this, on the other hand, was all my fault, but once I told her, she took care of it right away.
Later that night, I went to Silver Wolf and from a block away, I heard a guy yelling and hitting the bag. As I kept walking, I wondered who it was. I go up, and it was MASATO. You guys know he rules, right? This was my first time seeing Masato's training, and he was in good shape.
After Masato was done on the bags, I started hitting the bags and the Thai trainer corrects my stuff. Afterwards, he pulls me into the ring for padwork and just outside the ropes is MASATO, stretching and watching. I paid my homage to him by ripping the pads up as if I never had before. It was the shit.
I then did more training in the class and then a conditioning class with Daiguji-san. I was beat, so I went home, ate, and went to bed.
Today, I got a lot of classwork, so I'm going to get that all done tonight and unfortunatley, not train.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tokyo Nightlife 2
Yesterday, I mentioned that there was nothing worth mentioning. Not anymore.
Last night, I ran into MASATO again. And he talked to me! He told me take of my shoes, and I said, "Sorry," and did so. Training that night was rough, especially with the language barrier, but all the drills were similar.
Today, I was going to either go to Boxing at Silver Wolf or do Fighter's Medical Training in Suidobashi. But instead, I opted for Kaiten Sushi in Harajuku with some friends. While there, we had a friend, Z (who's name I will release with his permission), who was too shy to talk to girls. My other friend, EK (same thing), kept pushing him forward to hit on one of the waitresses at the sushi place. The sushi itself was good. I had some simple bean curd and rice, shrimp tempura, shrimp sushi, and I decided to try out whelk and herring roe, all of which were good.
After sushi, my one friend, EK, said "Let's go to a gay bar. We'll meet with V and have a good time." Z was against the idea and I was 50/50. I told him that if he went, I'd go. And so we did. In Shinjuku, Kabuki-cho (a real shady area - Yakuza hangout), we ran into V and J and went down to a club called "Dragon Men." Keep in mind that neither me, Z or EK are gay, but we did just to see what it was like. On the way to the store, we passed a gay porn shop where in clear view was a Masato photobook. I quickly stopped everyone, ran in and showed everybody Masato. Because you know, MASATO RULES.
After that was done, we moved on and went to the club. It wasn't awkward at all, but me and Z had to leave to catch the train. We almost missed it, but were set, and here I am now.
Last night, I ran into MASATO again. And he talked to me! He told me take of my shoes, and I said, "Sorry," and did so. Training that night was rough, especially with the language barrier, but all the drills were similar.
Today, I was going to either go to Boxing at Silver Wolf or do Fighter's Medical Training in Suidobashi. But instead, I opted for Kaiten Sushi in Harajuku with some friends. While there, we had a friend, Z (who's name I will release with his permission), who was too shy to talk to girls. My other friend, EK (same thing), kept pushing him forward to hit on one of the waitresses at the sushi place. The sushi itself was good. I had some simple bean curd and rice, shrimp tempura, shrimp sushi, and I decided to try out whelk and herring roe, all of which were good.
After sushi, my one friend, EK, said "Let's go to a gay bar. We'll meet with V and have a good time." Z was against the idea and I was 50/50. I told him that if he went, I'd go. And so we did. In Shinjuku, Kabuki-cho (a real shady area - Yakuza hangout), we ran into V and J and went down to a club called "Dragon Men." Keep in mind that neither me, Z or EK are gay, but we did just to see what it was like. On the way to the store, we passed a gay porn shop where in clear view was a Masato photobook. I quickly stopped everyone, ran in and showed everybody Masato. Because you know, MASATO RULES.
After that was done, we moved on and went to the club. It wasn't awkward at all, but me and Z had to leave to catch the train. We almost missed it, but were set, and here I am now.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
SILVER WOLF
Monday and today, Tuesday, were very eventful.
On Monday, I went to the Silver Wolf Kickboxing gym, the gym of Superstar MASATO (Did you know? He rules). On my way there, just a block down from my homestay, I was stopped by the police. They asked to see my documentation and then searched my gym bag. I wasn't sure if they were allowed to search my belongings legally, but I let them do so anyway, because I wasn't sure. I later found out that they can, but I do have a right to refuse - but it just becomes more suspicious. I have nothing to hide anyway, so why bother?
At the gym, I finally paid my membership fees and got to train. The Japanese trainers were surprised that I spoke some Japanese. The Thai trainer at the gym, speaks no English or Japanese, so it was hard to greet him, but I stuck with Japanese. When I went to the locker room, I saw a man in a suit who looked to be a sarariiman (salary man) finishing his afternoon workout. Then he looked at me... It was the man, MASATO. I was totally starstruck, turned around finished getting dressed, bowed to him, and left. The training there was very good and tiring and all of the Japanese trainers and training partners are very friendly.
Today, it snowed here in Japan. It's not freezing, about 5 degrees celsius here, so the snow was very wet. The one man in the Office of International Students, Aki, who is also the dorm manager of Ontakesan dorm, told me that snow is very rare in Tokyo, only once or twice a winter. I personally am not a big fan of snow, but I'm glad to have experienced it.
On Monday, I went to the Silver Wolf Kickboxing gym, the gym of Superstar MASATO (Did you know? He rules). On my way there, just a block down from my homestay, I was stopped by the police. They asked to see my documentation and then searched my gym bag. I wasn't sure if they were allowed to search my belongings legally, but I let them do so anyway, because I wasn't sure. I later found out that they can, but I do have a right to refuse - but it just becomes more suspicious. I have nothing to hide anyway, so why bother?
At the gym, I finally paid my membership fees and got to train. The Japanese trainers were surprised that I spoke some Japanese. The Thai trainer at the gym, speaks no English or Japanese, so it was hard to greet him, but I stuck with Japanese. When I went to the locker room, I saw a man in a suit who looked to be a sarariiman (salary man) finishing his afternoon workout. Then he looked at me... It was the man, MASATO. I was totally starstruck, turned around finished getting dressed, bowed to him, and left. The training there was very good and tiring and all of the Japanese trainers and training partners are very friendly.
Today, it snowed here in Japan. It's not freezing, about 5 degrees celsius here, so the snow was very wet. The one man in the Office of International Students, Aki, who is also the dorm manager of Ontakesan dorm, told me that snow is very rare in Tokyo, only once or twice a winter. I personally am not a big fan of snow, but I'm glad to have experienced it.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Tokyo Nightlife
On Friday, I had the Sake tasting at Roppongi, run by Temple. The sake itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't too good either. They had 7 different types available and a sake expert, John Gaunter was giving a speech and explanation of sake. Also in the same night were several performers including a shamisen player, models, and both contemporary and Japanese musicians. I ended up coming back late at night since the even didn't end until 11:00 PM.
Saturday, I had originally intended to go to Shibuya for some "field research" and I learned many things from this night that I would like to share:
1. Tokyo nightlife begins early. We got to the club around 8:00 and it was POPPING.
2. Some clubs are free or relatively inexpensive.
3. From what I found, the cheapest drinks are where all the other foreigners are.
4. Don't drink 151.
Of the places I went to that night, my favorites were a hip hop club (taken over by mostly Nigerians who according to my friend "were eyeing us down really hard") and the "3 Coins bar" a 300 yen drink place where a Gay Swede was hitting on me and my friends.
Sunday was a recovery day, I went to my friend's dorm and had to hear about how much of a d-bag I was. Other than that, pretty uneventful.
Lately, I've discovered that I can only make International Withdrawals at certain times of the day and TODAY, I found out that we can only make International withdrawals only at certain times, and today I've found out that I can only withdraw about 30,000 yen a day. This is why I've been unable to join Masato's gym. Daiguji said that I can pay my months ahead and I'll be set. BUT... I'm gonna have to start saving up for the next few days until I can do it. Hopefully tomorrow I can pull something off.
Saturday, I had originally intended to go to Shibuya for some "field research" and I learned many things from this night that I would like to share:
1. Tokyo nightlife begins early. We got to the club around 8:00 and it was POPPING.
2. Some clubs are free or relatively inexpensive.
3. From what I found, the cheapest drinks are where all the other foreigners are.
4. Don't drink 151.
Of the places I went to that night, my favorites were a hip hop club (taken over by mostly Nigerians who according to my friend "were eyeing us down really hard") and the "3 Coins bar" a 300 yen drink place where a Gay Swede was hitting on me and my friends.
Sunday was a recovery day, I went to my friend's dorm and had to hear about how much of a d-bag I was. Other than that, pretty uneventful.
Lately, I've discovered that I can only make International Withdrawals at certain times of the day and TODAY, I found out that we can only make International withdrawals only at certain times, and today I've found out that I can only withdraw about 30,000 yen a day. This is why I've been unable to join Masato's gym. Daiguji said that I can pay my months ahead and I'll be set. BUT... I'm gonna have to start saving up for the next few days until I can do it. Hopefully tomorrow I can pull something off.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Traveling to Japan and roaming Tokyo
I haven't been able to post because I haven't had the time to post a blog or Internet, but this will cover everything so far.
My way to Japan was VERY smooth - everything went on time. Airplanes were very cramped and not very comfortable. I don't sleep at all on planes. But it was okay. I got off the plane and realized, "My Japanese isn't as good as I thought it was." I didn't expect it to be so bad, but it really sucked. However, it was okay and enough to get by.
My homestay family was VERY helpful and I found out I have no curfew, which is good. My first meal was Sashimi and it was delicious, even though I'm generally not a big fan of fish, especially raw fish.
The following day, I had an orientation at TUJ, which was basically blatant information, nothing new. After our information session, we got to roam Roppongi, where I finally had some Gyuudon at a Matsuya. It was CHEAP - 330 yen for a bowl. Afterwards, we went to a Don Quixote, a Japanese Wal Mart basically, just a little raunchy. They had a plethora of erotic underwear - for men and woman, one brand name being "Black Man".
That night, I was bored and I decided to roam Shibuya alone. Here, I discovered that my Japanese is really not up to par. Forming a sentence to ask a question is no problem, but understanding the directions I get is HARD, I'm left to say nothing but ”わかりません”。
On Saturday, we went out to Shibuya again as a group. At this point, it was much easier as I did not have to get directions anywhere, and if I did, I'd just ask my Japanese tour-guides who spoke English. Later that night was another story. Me and a group of 15 other kids from Ontakesan, in Ota-Ku, went down to Gotanda to do Karaoke at Big Echo. We had a blast there, until we saw one of our fellow classmates, who had decided to get drunk, started vomiting all over the place. Luckily, he waited till the last song, so we wrapped up and left. As we were checking out, we found an extra 5000 yen charge. Yes, we were charged a 5000 yen clean up fee. But among 16 kids, it was easy to pay off. As I returned with the Ontakesan group to their dorm, I found that I was going to be charged 2000 yen to stay over, and I did anyway.
The morning after, on Sunday, there was an Ontakesan Kodomo Festival. They were making Omochi and selling Omochi soup for 100 yen. As I moved on, I saw a huge audience watching a FIGHT. It was KAMEN RIDER fighting evil villains for children. All the fights had a recurring theme - Kamen Rider fights the bad guys and starts winning, but then the tables are turned, and Kamen Rider is beaten up, but his friend jumps in to save him and thus the cycle starts again. It was very exciting to watch, however my camera ran out of memory as Kamen Rider was going to do his Full Charge.
Later that day on Sunday, I went to Odaiba with my Homestay parents to a popular Ramen place. It was very delicious. Though I'm Muslim and not supposed to be eating pork, I must say, Japanese pork, 豚肉, is so lean and so delicious. Apparently in Japan, pork is considered to be healtheir than beef. This place was popping. It was basically a strip of Shopping malls. According to my homestay parents, it's a hip place for teens to go on dates. While there, we also went to a Sony Dream Theatre, which was an interactive technology museum, mostly with stuff Sony has been developing, I guess.
Monday was a waste of a day. I went back to TUJ for a mandatory orientation. It was the head of Office of International students spewing the same shit for 5 hours, no lie. Just running in circles telling us obvious bullshit like "Don't do this, don't do that". Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to steal bikes, and I can't even ride a bike anyway (本とに). He did go over the trips available, which did seem interesting, especially the Hakone trip that I can't go to because it's the same night as K-1. And because K-1 rules, there's no chance I'm skipping it for a Hakone trip, especially since I already got RINGSIDE tickets (23000 yen, for real).
Tuesday, I had no class, so I went to campus to work on this blog more (not having Internet and playing catchup with this blog sucks because it's now Friday) and then went to Suidobashi to find a store that sold kickboxing gear. Long story short, boxing gloves are too expensive here. Everlast gloves that sell for 80 dollars in the US are selling for 22,000 Yen in Japan, about 220 USD.
Wednesday, I went to SILVER WOLF GYM, the gym of K-1 MAX CHAMPION, MASATO. Did you guys know? Masato rules. I didn't meet Masato, but I saw all of his trainers and met Susumu Daiguji, one of his main sparring partners. He was a nice guy and spoke some English. I got the paperwork and everything and filled it out that night. He said that as long as I paid my months in advance, I wouldn't need to do any EFT or pay the joining fee.
Thursday, I didn't have class until 3:45, so I went to Ueno park for a robot festival. It was pretty small, just some Gundams and Honda
s new robot, Asimo. Seeing Asimo was very interesting until Asimo got stage fright and there was some technical issues. Later that night, I went to Setagaya-ku to go to SILVER WOLF GYM because MASATO RULES and... I wasn't able to withdraw the gym tuition because it was 7:00 PM and they don't do International withdrawals that late. ざんねん.
Now today, on Friday, I am going to a Sake-Tasting Event in Roppongi run by Temple. It seems pretty interesting. Now that I'm caught up to date, I'm gonna include what I did on the next entry.
OSU (Not Ohio State - OSU is a Martial arts term for PUSH AND ENDURE)
My way to Japan was VERY smooth - everything went on time. Airplanes were very cramped and not very comfortable. I don't sleep at all on planes. But it was okay. I got off the plane and realized, "My Japanese isn't as good as I thought it was." I didn't expect it to be so bad, but it really sucked. However, it was okay and enough to get by.
My homestay family was VERY helpful and I found out I have no curfew, which is good. My first meal was Sashimi and it was delicious, even though I'm generally not a big fan of fish, especially raw fish.
The following day, I had an orientation at TUJ, which was basically blatant information, nothing new. After our information session, we got to roam Roppongi, where I finally had some Gyuudon at a Matsuya. It was CHEAP - 330 yen for a bowl. Afterwards, we went to a Don Quixote, a Japanese Wal Mart basically, just a little raunchy. They had a plethora of erotic underwear - for men and woman, one brand name being "Black Man".
That night, I was bored and I decided to roam Shibuya alone. Here, I discovered that my Japanese is really not up to par. Forming a sentence to ask a question is no problem, but understanding the directions I get is HARD, I'm left to say nothing but ”わかりません”。
On Saturday, we went out to Shibuya again as a group. At this point, it was much easier as I did not have to get directions anywhere, and if I did, I'd just ask my Japanese tour-guides who spoke English. Later that night was another story. Me and a group of 15 other kids from Ontakesan, in Ota-Ku, went down to Gotanda to do Karaoke at Big Echo. We had a blast there, until we saw one of our fellow classmates, who had decided to get drunk, started vomiting all over the place. Luckily, he waited till the last song, so we wrapped up and left. As we were checking out, we found an extra 5000 yen charge. Yes, we were charged a 5000 yen clean up fee. But among 16 kids, it was easy to pay off. As I returned with the Ontakesan group to their dorm, I found that I was going to be charged 2000 yen to stay over, and I did anyway.
The morning after, on Sunday, there was an Ontakesan Kodomo Festival. They were making Omochi and selling Omochi soup for 100 yen. As I moved on, I saw a huge audience watching a FIGHT. It was KAMEN RIDER fighting evil villains for children. All the fights had a recurring theme - Kamen Rider fights the bad guys and starts winning, but then the tables are turned, and Kamen Rider is beaten up, but his friend jumps in to save him and thus the cycle starts again. It was very exciting to watch, however my camera ran out of memory as Kamen Rider was going to do his Full Charge.
Later that day on Sunday, I went to Odaiba with my Homestay parents to a popular Ramen place. It was very delicious. Though I'm Muslim and not supposed to be eating pork, I must say, Japanese pork, 豚肉, is so lean and so delicious. Apparently in Japan, pork is considered to be healtheir than beef. This place was popping. It was basically a strip of Shopping malls. According to my homestay parents, it's a hip place for teens to go on dates. While there, we also went to a Sony Dream Theatre, which was an interactive technology museum, mostly with stuff Sony has been developing, I guess.
Monday was a waste of a day. I went back to TUJ for a mandatory orientation. It was the head of Office of International students spewing the same shit for 5 hours, no lie. Just running in circles telling us obvious bullshit like "Don't do this, don't do that". Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to steal bikes, and I can't even ride a bike anyway (本とに). He did go over the trips available, which did seem interesting, especially the Hakone trip that I can't go to because it's the same night as K-1. And because K-1 rules, there's no chance I'm skipping it for a Hakone trip, especially since I already got RINGSIDE tickets (23000 yen, for real).
Tuesday, I had no class, so I went to campus to work on this blog more (not having Internet and playing catchup with this blog sucks because it's now Friday) and then went to Suidobashi to find a store that sold kickboxing gear. Long story short, boxing gloves are too expensive here. Everlast gloves that sell for 80 dollars in the US are selling for 22,000 Yen in Japan, about 220 USD.
Wednesday, I went to SILVER WOLF GYM, the gym of K-1 MAX CHAMPION, MASATO. Did you guys know? Masato rules. I didn't meet Masato, but I saw all of his trainers and met Susumu Daiguji, one of his main sparring partners. He was a nice guy and spoke some English. I got the paperwork and everything and filled it out that night. He said that as long as I paid my months in advance, I wouldn't need to do any EFT or pay the joining fee.
Thursday, I didn't have class until 3:45, so I went to Ueno park for a robot festival. It was pretty small, just some Gundams and Honda
s new robot, Asimo. Seeing Asimo was very interesting until Asimo got stage fright and there was some technical issues. Later that night, I went to Setagaya-ku to go to SILVER WOLF GYM because MASATO RULES and... I wasn't able to withdraw the gym tuition because it was 7:00 PM and they don't do International withdrawals that late. ざんねん.
Now today, on Friday, I am going to a Sake-Tasting Event in Roppongi run by Temple. It seems pretty interesting. Now that I'm caught up to date, I'm gonna include what I did on the next entry.
OSU (Not Ohio State - OSU is a Martial arts term for PUSH AND ENDURE)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Leaving For Japan
This is a trip I've been looking forward to for a long time.
When I was in High School, I've always wanted to be an exchange student in Japan. I'd watch shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and read manga like Midori No Hibi and was fascinated by the Japanese high school uniform. If I were mandated to wear that as a uniform in high school, that'd be NICE. And also, whenever an episode ended, my reaction would often be, "Damn! If I were in Japan, I'd be watching the next episode right now and not have to wait for Cartoon Network to broadcast it two weeks later!"
But my anime nerdiness aside, one of the things that also compelled me to Japan was it's rich martial arts culture. When I was younger, I decided to take up Jiu Jitsu. Why? because I wanted to be a SAMURAI. But I was 13 and played Dungeons and Dragons in my free time, so I'm sure you can see why. Over time, I matured as a martial artist. I decided to try my hand at MMA, mixed martial arts. And from there, I decided to take up kickboxing. I made this sudden realization after watching a highlight video of K-1 MAX fighter, Masato.
I began to "prepare" for a Japan trip. My father hired a Japanese International Student from Bloomsburg University to teach me privately. It was fun and learned a little bit, but I wasn't able to keep it up because of Wrestling and already taking French and Spanish in school. This is about where I started to take an interest in Japanese music. I assumed that if I listened to it enough, I may be able to pick up small amounts of Japanese - which is true, I've used song lyrics to memorize vocabulary in my Japanese classes now that I'm in college.
In my Sophomore year of college, I took up Japanese and decided to minor in it as well. Going to Japan has always been one of my goals during my education, since I was in high school and the reason I chose Temple was for it's study abroad program and their Japan campus. It is also the reason I chose my International Business major. I want to put my language skills to use. I want to be able to travel. I want to experience other cultures.
I understand that my main purpose to conduct this trip is not for martial arts or to relish in all my anime nerd glory (Not that I watch much anyway nowadays), but these are major motivators of my decision to study abroad. I will go to class just like everybody else and try to get my grades up as if I were still in Temple Main, but when it comes to time out of class, I'm going say to myself, "I'm in JAPAN," and enjoy myself as I learn a few new things.
My flight leaves out of Allentown in a few hours, I'm all packed, and ready to go.
When I was in High School, I've always wanted to be an exchange student in Japan. I'd watch shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and read manga like Midori No Hibi and was fascinated by the Japanese high school uniform. If I were mandated to wear that as a uniform in high school, that'd be NICE. And also, whenever an episode ended, my reaction would often be, "Damn! If I were in Japan, I'd be watching the next episode right now and not have to wait for Cartoon Network to broadcast it two weeks later!"
But my anime nerdiness aside, one of the things that also compelled me to Japan was it's rich martial arts culture. When I was younger, I decided to take up Jiu Jitsu. Why? because I wanted to be a SAMURAI. But I was 13 and played Dungeons and Dragons in my free time, so I'm sure you can see why. Over time, I matured as a martial artist. I decided to try my hand at MMA, mixed martial arts. And from there, I decided to take up kickboxing. I made this sudden realization after watching a highlight video of K-1 MAX fighter, Masato.
I began to "prepare" for a Japan trip. My father hired a Japanese International Student from Bloomsburg University to teach me privately. It was fun and learned a little bit, but I wasn't able to keep it up because of Wrestling and already taking French and Spanish in school. This is about where I started to take an interest in Japanese music. I assumed that if I listened to it enough, I may be able to pick up small amounts of Japanese - which is true, I've used song lyrics to memorize vocabulary in my Japanese classes now that I'm in college.
In my Sophomore year of college, I took up Japanese and decided to minor in it as well. Going to Japan has always been one of my goals during my education, since I was in high school and the reason I chose Temple was for it's study abroad program and their Japan campus. It is also the reason I chose my International Business major. I want to put my language skills to use. I want to be able to travel. I want to experience other cultures.
I understand that my main purpose to conduct this trip is not for martial arts or to relish in all my anime nerd glory (Not that I watch much anyway nowadays), but these are major motivators of my decision to study abroad. I will go to class just like everybody else and try to get my grades up as if I were still in Temple Main, but when it comes to time out of class, I'm going say to myself, "I'm in JAPAN," and enjoy myself as I learn a few new things.
My flight leaves out of Allentown in a few hours, I'm all packed, and ready to go.
日本に往きましょうよ！
(written Jan 8, 2007, Posted Jan 12, 2007)
(written Jan 8, 2007, Posted Jan 12, 2007)
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