Preparing for Japan (While Away in Japan?)

     Hi everyone! I'm Peter, and this summer I'm studying the Japanese language in Nagoya, Japan. I've been studying the language for almost two years already, and since I've always had an interest in Japanese culture as well, I figured that it was definitely time I went out to study in Japan itself! There's so much about this country I'm excited to see and experience, from the simple things like food all the way to exploring the different islands. The one thing I'm most excited for though is to become a lot more confident with my Japanese, so I can actively participate in conversation and events while abroad.

     Getting ready to go has been one of the most overhyped, nervewracking events of my life. The intensity of living abroad for two months over 7,000 miles away from home starts to overshadow the fact that I'm simply abroad for two months. What I mean by this is that as a college student I'm used to spending days packing clothes, electronics, supplies, etc. for moving to school. The difference here is that I'm not going up to my college dorm where I need to pack my life. I'm going across the world where I'll be living a very different lifestlye for two months. After realzing this, I narrowed my list down to the essentials: clothes, hygenics, study material and my laptop. With this simple list, I leave things like game systems at home to encourage me to get out and enjoy a new country, and I also leave room in my bag since I plan on doing A LOT of shopping here.

     Now that I'm packed and ready to go, I want to write my thoughts about this program out. My situation is a little different than others, and that's because I've already been in Japan. For this past week I've been in Japan visiting somebody who's been studying longer than I have. By being here this past week, I can't be any more excited for my program to begin. I have been around a few cities, visiting shrines, eating food and conversing with others and I have to say: my Japanese is not as good as I thought. In conversation, it takes me sometimes minutes to comprehend what somebody is saying to me, and I rarely know how to express myself in return! It's because of experiences like this that get me really excited to begin my immersive learning experience. I feel that once I begin to live my everyday life here this summer, I will naturally become more fluent.

I hope you're ready to experience this adventure with me these next few weeks!