Well...I've survived the first 2 weeks! Hopefully these will be the worst and now it will settle and I won't be so home sick! I can't say it's been easy as I'd be lying...it has been really hard. Being so far away from everyone is extremely difficult. However, it is worth it! This opportunity is so unique and the group of students chosen are really really cool which helps!
To celebrate my 2 week anniversary, I dragged Colin down to Akihabara Electric Town and got myself a Japanese phone. It was quite an adventure and we had a good laugh! I am now the proud owner of a shocking pink phone which is called a Jelly bean and comes with a pink jelly bean charm! Another thing accomplished here! I also cooked myself dinner for the first time last night which turned out ok considering I wasn't even sure I picked up the right ingredients from the shop (labels are written in Japanese only obviously!). My dorm is starting to feel more like home and I'm adjusting well to my new routine.
School is hard to put it mildly! However, all of our teachers are trying really hard to help us and enjoy it. This afternoon they brought us a present for all the hard work we've done. They brought us typical Japanese cake and Japanese liqueur. I thought it was so nice of them to be so friendly and nice. As for my progress with Japanese...I'm understanding more but trying to construct sentences is proving difficult. I'm going to keep trying though and give it my best.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Welcome to Yokohama
What an awesome city! It blew my mind away...Yokohama the capital city of the Kanagawa prefecture and my oh my what a beauty! I swear that as soon as I stepped off the train I fell in love with the place! The best place of all, must be the the Landmark tower! The observatory garden on the 67th floor towers over the entire harbor area giving a 360o view of the land below. And this isn't any observatory garden...it is glitzy and posh, with fitted carpets, leather sofas and a cocktail bar bang in the middle of the floor! The rest of the surrounding area known as Minato Mirai 21 is just as stylish and posh! Everything is done with such class! Looking around one might think that the city was designed so that everything fits in all the right places!
My spirits are renewed today. After an enjoyable Friday night in the Roppongi drinking sake and eating sushi and other delicious food items in a local izakaya, followed by a lovely afternoon in Yokohama I have to admit that I'm going to enjoy it here. I do think that slowly Tokyo is capturing my heart. It struck me how lucky I am to be here with a group of really nice people and all the resources I need to acquire the tools to live and enjoy Tokyo and Japan! So...on that note...back to my language books!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Introduction to Tokyo
The story begins way back in January when I applied to participate in the Vulcanus in Japan program. Those chosen would travel to Japan for one year during which time they undergo a Japanese language course for 4 months followed by a 8 month internship with a host company. The chance of being chosen to participate is very slim and I didn't really think I had much of a chance!
However, in March an e-mail arrived saying that I had been short-listed and then in May two days before my final examination began, I received an e-mail telling me that I had been chosen! And so the whirlwind began! Plane tickets, meetings in Brussels and visa applications in Rome and two months of hard work so as to save money for the plane ticket to Tokyo. On Monday 30th September at 13:00 I left Malta international Airport for Frankfurt and two days later landed in Narita Airport Tokyo at 7:30am!
My dormitory is in the Kanagawa prefecture and I live in Higashi-totsuka which is in Yokohama. It's a quiet place, very peaceful and across the road from my dorm there is an elementary school which guarantees that every morning I leave my dorm and smile watching the children run into school. They are the cutest little people I have ever seen, and of course they all stop to stare at me and giggle! The dorm is tatami-style, so I sleep on a futon rather then a bed and go everywhere in slippers rather than shoes. It's very important that you remove your shoes before you enter the house, so a room at the entrance is reserved for shoe cupboards! Although this was slightly weird at the beginning, a week later and I can't wait to get home and take my shoes off! The futon is growing on me slowly...very slowly! It isn't the most comfortable bedding in the world and don't even get me started on the pillow...which is as hard as stone! However, yesterday I got a decent night sleep without waking up feeling like I was hit by a train so I think it will work out for the better. We also have a canteen which prepares breakfast and dinner, and the food is actually pretty good and cheap! It's rather amusing to have dinner, everyone is so quiet it's unbelievable!
The language school we attend is in Shibuya and the course we are following is very intensive and demanding. Sitting here trying to revise my vocab for tomorrow and wondering if it will get easier with time...wondering if eventually the words will make sense without me having to rack my brains! The language is not easy and very frustrating...they have so many different forms of the same word depending on who you are speaking with. By the time I get home at night I'm already exhausted...and I need to revise Kanji, vocab and grammer for the next day! I'm slightly disappointed as I hoped we would have more time to explore and see the city instead of being inside the same building for most of the day. However, being able to speak the language is vital for your survival in Tokyo so I guess I have to hang in there and keep trying so that eventually it will pay off and we will be able to communicate with the people around us rather than just ourselves!
So back to it I guess...tomorrow is Friday γο½δΊε and hopefully we will all have a good week end and a bit of a rest!!
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