Before I went to Japan there was not a long laundry list of things I wanted to do because I knew that just getting into the country and being able to live there for the year it was going to be enough to be one of the best years my life. I accomplish so much from my very first date in Japan or I felt like a lost little puppy dog trying to navigate the very confusing subways in Tokyo. At first I found myself relying far too much on English but once I had joined the kendo Club at Okayama University I force myself to spend two hours six days a week in a room full of people whom did not like to speak English. This was fun for me because after all I had come come to Japan to learn Japanese, and the best way to learn is from native speakers. After a few months of practicing kendo I fractured my right arm and needed to get an MRI. Not only was able to go to the doctors on my own I was able to conduct every appointment in Japanese. While I did not understand everything the doctor was saying I had grown to a point in my language proficiency that I was comfortable with the lack of English and could understand enough and get my point across. Also to note the effectiveness of Japanese medical care system I was able to get my MRI done during my lunch break without missing class. I don't think this would have been possible in America. After all the time I put into the kendo club I gave enough blood and sweat that my language proficiency increased just as much as physical strength. In the end I wound up climbing Mount Fuji for the Fourth of July with my good friend Matthew Bichay, another CSUMB study abroad student, and it was the hardest night of my life. It rained the whole way up, until it became so cold that the rain turned to snow. By the time we reached the summit I was so cold I'm so tired I was worried about hypothermia. Even Matt’s beard was frozen over like something out of the movies. However I did not freeze to death the sun rose and it was an amazing sight to be seen. For both me and Matt going to Mount Fuji what's kind of the joke we told people when we were asked what we would do in Japan, Little did we think that we would actually end up climbing it.
While I was living in Japan I found most effective strategy helping myself learn both language and culture was to explore. At home I can spend hours looking at flashcards studying kanji, and that was what I do to memorize for tests, but learning kanji in the wild helped me remember them the best. For example there was a soup on the menu in which I did not know the kanji and when I asked the waitress what it was It surprised me to hear chicken (とり肉). And then realized that was the kanji for niwatori (鶏) and now I will never make that mistake again. Or even confusing someone with the kanji for white peach (白桃) saying the japanese reading (しろもも) instead of chinese (はくとう). Once I confused the kanji for bird (鳥) with the kanji for raven (烏) then at the same place I overheard a group of Japanese adults laughing about someone making that very same mistake I had.
Attached are some examples of my work I completed over the year at Okayama University. The courses I took were Japanese 3; Japanese 4; Reading and Writing 2; Study of Japan; Japanese Through Film; Modern Japanese Culture; Japanese and Nature; Energy and Environmen in Japan and Asia; Introduction to Sociolinguistics; People crossing borders in Japan; Tourism in Japan; and Japanese Cuisine and Culture.
LESCANT Photos
While I was living in Japan I found most effective strategy helping myself learn both language and culture was to explore. At home I can spend hours looking at flashcards studying kanji, and that was what I do to memorize for tests, but learning kanji in the wild helped me remember them the best. For example there was a soup on the menu in which I did not know the kanji and when I asked the waitress what it was It surprised me to hear chicken (とり肉). And then realized that was the kanji for niwatori (鶏) and now I will never make that mistake again. Or even confusing someone with the kanji for white peach (白桃) saying the japanese reading (しろもも) instead of chinese (はくとう). Once I confused the kanji for bird (鳥) with the kanji for raven (烏) then at the same place I overheard a group of Japanese adults laughing about someone making that very same mistake I had.
Attached are some examples of my work I completed over the year at Okayama University. The courses I took were Japanese 3; Japanese 4; Reading and Writing 2; Study of Japan; Japanese Through Film; Modern Japanese Culture; Japanese and Nature; Energy and Environmen in Japan and Asia; Introduction to Sociolinguistics; People crossing borders in Japan; Tourism in Japan; and Japanese Cuisine and Culture.
LESCANT Photos