Monday, June 23, 2008
Got my departure date!
I got my Japanese student visa, and sent it off to the travel agent. she just mailed me my ticket the other day. They originally told me I would be in Japan by august 1st or so, but the ticket says august 20th!
This is good and bad. It's good in that I get more time in Canada, more summer with my friends and family. It's bad in that i miss most of Japanese summer vacation, which is only one month. so I will be going straight in to school when i get there, rather than having a month to just get settled and get to know my host family.
So 57 days and 8 hours left before I'm on the plane, but i'm getting pretty stoked.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Why Japan?
So i guess this is my first post.
Yesterday was my high school graduation. My exchange is less than 70 days away. I'm starting to realize that all my preparation has gone in to something that is actually going to happen . When i got the forms from japan on the weird paper with the Japanese writing it was like all of a sudden Japan was a real place instead of something made up. something you only see in pictures.
I'm starting to feel like I'm actually ready to go.
Anyway, the first thing people ask me when they find out about my student exchange is "why Japan?" The answer is pretty simple. Japan is going to be challenging. It's not going to be one big party. The language is going to be brutal to learn, and even things like protocol for bowing, addressing people, gift giving, is going to be really hard to grasp.
I was also thinking about coming back from my exchange when i chose Japan. I think it will be more impressive to state in a university or job application that I spent a year studying in Japan than saying i spent one partying somewhere else.
Not to mention Japan being the exact opposite of us, One ethnicity, condensed population, and a small piece of land. It's going to be really interesting to experience that after growing up in Canada.
There you go. don't expect me to be writing until i leave in August, but once I'm gone i will post something every day.
-Alex
Yesterday was my high school graduation. My exchange is less than 70 days away. I'm starting to realize that all my preparation has gone in to something that is actually going to happen . When i got the forms from japan on the weird paper with the Japanese writing it was like all of a sudden Japan was a real place instead of something made up. something you only see in pictures.
I'm starting to feel like I'm actually ready to go.
Anyway, the first thing people ask me when they find out about my student exchange is "why Japan?" The answer is pretty simple. Japan is going to be challenging. It's not going to be one big party. The language is going to be brutal to learn, and even things like protocol for bowing, addressing people, gift giving, is going to be really hard to grasp.
I was also thinking about coming back from my exchange when i chose Japan. I think it will be more impressive to state in a university or job application that I spent a year studying in Japan than saying i spent one partying somewhere else.
Not to mention Japan being the exact opposite of us, One ethnicity, condensed population, and a small piece of land. It's going to be really interesting to experience that after growing up in Canada.
There you go. don't expect me to be writing until i leave in August, but once I'm gone i will post something every day.
-Alex
