The 11th March 2011 earthquake disaster occurred at 14:46 off the coast of Sendai. It was the biggest earthquake to hit Japan in recorded history, with a magnitude of 8.9. The last big earthquake to hit Japan was the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which did nothing like the damage Japan has seen in the last month.
I found out about it just before I went into a Listening class and, just like everyone else, I had no idea just how enormous the effects of it would be. I followed the news coverage closely, seeing each new video as it was released, and watched the death toll climb.
In the end I couldn't keep it up. I was torn between my interest in the event and the geography behind it (as long-term readers of this blog will know that I'm really interested in) and how sad it made me feel. Usually when I see terrible things on the news I'm quite emotionally unattached, so I was surprised when I realised just how affected I'd been. One video left me literally speechless after watching it. I couldn't imagine how powerful water could be before seeing this. In Britain we're so far removed from natural disasters, except for floods, that it's difficult to think about it.
Everything seemed to be getting so much worse over the days following the disaster; with the initial earthquake, then the devastating tsunami, followed by aftershocks and then the harrowing nuclear meltdown fears. I never thought that the Fukushima plant would meltdown, but of course the news played the worries up as much as it could.
I was in touch with my friends in Japan as soon as possible after I heard about it, and I got replies from all of them fairly quickly. I had a couple of friends who couldn't contact their families in the stricken areas for several days. I could not imagine how awful those days must have been, just waiting for any news about them. They were all fine in the end; it was the lack of communication that led to the lack of contact.
The death toll is difficult to find online, because all of the past articles with old figures are still there, but the last figure I heard was 27,000 people. My mind can't fathom that many people dying in just a few weeks.
Even Tokyo, quite far from the epicentre, will be suffering from planned blackouts into the summer, which will tough. Not least because of the heat and humidity.
It's difficult to find English news articles on it now, which is actually pretty disgusting, that it's dropped out of the public eye so quickly. It certainly hasn't dropped out of the minds of the Japanese people.
Japanese students studying abroad at Leeds have been really great, organising a stall raising money and managing it all day every day (they earned over £3,000 for the Red Cross appeal), and arranging lantern nights with food and drink stalls. It was a fantastic effort on everyone's part.
It's definitely an event that will not be forgotten for decades, and I don't think it should be. People need to be reminded of just how powerful nature is, and the nuclear repercussions will hopefully lead to increased safety procedures worldwide.
Showing posts with label Leeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leeds. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Back to Third Year
Wow it's been a long time since I updated my blog! The whole summer has disappeared in a flash! I was very busy at Cadbury World while I was in Birmingham, and that was a really good time, as it always is! I earned around £2,000, so that will really help me out this year. But I'm still searching for a part-time job here in Leeds to keep me going.
I've just done my first week of lectures, which went by in a bit of blur. I finished work at Cadbury World last Friday and then came up to Leeds on Saturday morning, then my first lecture was 9am on Monday, so I haven't had a lot of time to adjust.
It has been really lovely to see everyone again. So many people I haven't seen for months, or a year in some cases! It's been quite a week of reunions.
But so far lectures have been good. They've been mostly introductory, telling us what we'll be doing over the next year. The grammar seems to be mainly stuff I studied at ICU last year, so there will be quite a lot of revision this year. Which is good and bad I suppose. I should know those points pretty well by next summer!
I have my first kanji test tomorrow, so I've been working through them over the last few days. There were only two new ones, so the rest were just making sure I could remember how to write and read them.
There's a lot of work on the way, so fingers crossed it all goes well over this semester!
I've just done my first week of lectures, which went by in a bit of blur. I finished work at Cadbury World last Friday and then came up to Leeds on Saturday morning, then my first lecture was 9am on Monday, so I haven't had a lot of time to adjust.
It has been really lovely to see everyone again. So many people I haven't seen for months, or a year in some cases! It's been quite a week of reunions.
But so far lectures have been good. They've been mostly introductory, telling us what we'll be doing over the next year. The grammar seems to be mainly stuff I studied at ICU last year, so there will be quite a lot of revision this year. Which is good and bad I suppose. I should know those points pretty well by next summer!
I have my first kanji test tomorrow, so I've been working through them over the last few days. There were only two new ones, so the rest were just making sure I could remember how to write and read them.
There's a lot of work on the way, so fingers crossed it all goes well over this semester!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Leeds Exam Results
Yesterday morning my results from the Leeds Exam that I took at the beginning of May came through via email.
I was anxious to get these results because if I failed the exam, I would have one more chance to pass in the Summer, and then if I failed that one, then I wouldn't be able to continue my degree at Leeds Uni.
But, thankfully, I passed! We didn't get a breakdown of how we did on each section, but I know that my overall mark was 84%, which I'm really really pleased with.
That mark makes the 12 hours of study a day, and getting ill afterwards, all worth it! (That's not sarcasm, by the way.)
Most people I know passed the exam, with varying marks, although I've heard of a few people who didn't meet the pass mark. So they now have to study over the summer for the re-take, and then will hopefully pass and be able to continue.
I'm so relieved to have passed, so now I can relax about that and enjoy my last month here.
I was anxious to get these results because if I failed the exam, I would have one more chance to pass in the Summer, and then if I failed that one, then I wouldn't be able to continue my degree at Leeds Uni.
But, thankfully, I passed! We didn't get a breakdown of how we did on each section, but I know that my overall mark was 84%, which I'm really really pleased with.
That mark makes the 12 hours of study a day, and getting ill afterwards, all worth it! (That's not sarcasm, by the way.)
Most people I know passed the exam, with varying marks, although I've heard of a few people who didn't meet the pass mark. So they now have to study over the summer for the re-take, and then will hopefully pass and be able to continue.
I'm so relieved to have passed, so now I can relax about that and enjoy my last month here.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Leeds Exam
Last Friday was the dreaded Leeds exam for all the students on their Year Abroad in Japan. I think I nearly killed myself revising for it - every day during the three weeks before the day I spent around 12 hours studying for it.
We were using Kanji in Context, a very well-organised textbook that takes you through the kanji and vocab by using example sentences for each one. We were expected to know 1,003 kanji and the vocab that goes with them. And the idea was that we could work through the textbook throughout our year abroad, and know it inside-out by the time the exam arrived. But with the workload from ICU, I just didn't have the time. The blessing was that there was a lot of overlap between the two syllabuses, and we had our six week holiday and then the Golden Week public holiday in the two months before the Leeds exam, so we had more time to study.
The exam itself was not as hard as I was expecting it to be, but I'm sure that's because I was in the Intermediate class at Leeds last year. The beginners who have only been studying for a year and a half found it quite hellish, and a lot of people I've spoken to are convinced they failed. If people do fail, then they get one more chance to pass in September, and if they fail that one then they can't continue with their degrees. It's so strict! And a lot of people aren't happy at all with the system, as students from other British Universities don't have to do anything on their year abroad except pass their programmes of study in the host University.
The exam was made up of four sections - kanji reading (20%), kanji writing (20%), Japanese to English translation (30%) and an essay (30%). The hardest section for me was the Translation, and the easiest was the kanji reading.
I'm really glad the exam is over. ICU's workload seems so much more bearable without the extra responsibility. And we should get the results at the end of May or the beginning of June. So until then I can live in ignorant bliss, and then deal with the reality of my result when it comes!
We were using Kanji in Context, a very well-organised textbook that takes you through the kanji and vocab by using example sentences for each one. We were expected to know 1,003 kanji and the vocab that goes with them. And the idea was that we could work through the textbook throughout our year abroad, and know it inside-out by the time the exam arrived. But with the workload from ICU, I just didn't have the time. The blessing was that there was a lot of overlap between the two syllabuses, and we had our six week holiday and then the Golden Week public holiday in the two months before the Leeds exam, so we had more time to study.
The exam itself was not as hard as I was expecting it to be, but I'm sure that's because I was in the Intermediate class at Leeds last year. The beginners who have only been studying for a year and a half found it quite hellish, and a lot of people I've spoken to are convinced they failed. If people do fail, then they get one more chance to pass in September, and if they fail that one then they can't continue with their degrees. It's so strict! And a lot of people aren't happy at all with the system, as students from other British Universities don't have to do anything on their year abroad except pass their programmes of study in the host University.
The exam was made up of four sections - kanji reading (20%), kanji writing (20%), Japanese to English translation (30%) and an essay (30%). The hardest section for me was the Translation, and the easiest was the kanji reading.
I'm really glad the exam is over. ICU's workload seems so much more bearable without the extra responsibility. And we should get the results at the end of May or the beginning of June. So until then I can live in ignorant bliss, and then deal with the reality of my result when it comes!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Career Option?
I was struck earlier by a very random thought concerning what I could do with my life. I can't even remember why it popped into my head.
I wondered if I could combine two of my passions - Japanese and geography. If you've read a lot of this blog, or even just a little bit, then you've probably noticed that I love talking about the weather (that's not just because I'm British), and earthquakes, volcanoes etc. I find it all fascinating, especially here in Japan, in the centre of all of these natural disasters.
If it's possible, it would be great for me to work at like a Meteorological Agency (気象庁, kishouchou) or something here. But I suppose I would need a degree in Geography for that, which I might be able to do at a Japanese University after my degree at Leeds.
Of course, all of this depends on whether my Japanese actually gets good enough or not, and whether I decide I want to move away from the UK! It's just in the "idea stage" at the moment, but I'm finding myself leaning more towards the business side of things than the teaching side at the moment. I might go back and forth for quite a long time!
Anyway, getting a bit ahead of myself there... First of all, I need to get the results back from my test this morning, and do my Speaking homework!
I wondered if I could combine two of my passions - Japanese and geography. If you've read a lot of this blog, or even just a little bit, then you've probably noticed that I love talking about the weather (that's not just because I'm British), and earthquakes, volcanoes etc. I find it all fascinating, especially here in Japan, in the centre of all of these natural disasters.
If it's possible, it would be great for me to work at like a Meteorological Agency (気象庁, kishouchou) or something here. But I suppose I would need a degree in Geography for that, which I might be able to do at a Japanese University after my degree at Leeds.
Of course, all of this depends on whether my Japanese actually gets good enough or not, and whether I decide I want to move away from the UK! It's just in the "idea stage" at the moment, but I'm finding myself leaning more towards the business side of things than the teaching side at the moment. I might go back and forth for quite a long time!
Anyway, getting a bit ahead of myself there... First of all, I need to get the results back from my test this morning, and do my Speaking homework!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Year One Results
Big surprise here! I got my results a couple of weeks ago and I was extremely pleased to find that I got a first in Japanese! I tried hard to get as good a grade as possible, but I didn't actually think I'd get that!
My other results weren't as good as Japanese. I got one other first in my Geography elective and then 2:1s and 2:2s in my English and other electives.
Overall, I was very happy with the results, and they meant that I could continue with the course and go to Japan for September with no problem!
Only four weeks left now!
My other results weren't as good as Japanese. I got one other first in my Geography elective and then 2:1s and 2:2s in my English and other electives.
Overall, I was very happy with the results, and they meant that I could continue with the course and go to Japan for September with no problem!
Only four weeks left now!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Final Study Abroad Meeting
The Study Abroad meeting in Leeds last Thursday went really well - we were given lots of new information about the stay in Japan, and it helped settle a lot of things in my mind. I was voted 'group leader' for the people going to ICU, which means that I have to send monthly emails to the University of Leeds letting them know how everything is going, and updating them on the progress of our personal study.
A big thing happened there too. I found out that I passed Japanese! I was really happy, but I still have to wait until early July to find out if I've passed English, so I don't know if I can go to Japan or not!
One thing that worried me slightly is that we are meant to work through a textbook called 'Kanji in Context' for the Leeds exam while we are there, and should know around 1,200 kanji by the third year. That's a lot of kanji! But it'll be good to work through the textbook properly and get them settled in my head, and then start expanding my vocabulary through kanji compounds, which is apparently the best way to do it.
I'm off to Ibiza in six days, and then when I get back I should have my results! Fingers crossed!
A big thing happened there too. I found out that I passed Japanese! I was really happy, but I still have to wait until early July to find out if I've passed English, so I don't know if I can go to Japan or not!
One thing that worried me slightly is that we are meant to work through a textbook called 'Kanji in Context' for the Leeds exam while we are there, and should know around 1,200 kanji by the third year. That's a lot of kanji! But it'll be good to work through the textbook properly and get them settled in my head, and then start expanding my vocabulary through kanji compounds, which is apparently the best way to do it.
I'm off to Ibiza in six days, and then when I get back I should have my results! Fingers crossed!
Monday, June 15, 2009
End of Year One
I'm at home in Birmingham now, after finishing my three weeks of exams in Leeds last week. I started at Cadbury World on Saturday, and intend to work there for the summer.
I'm going back to Leeds on Wednesday evening for a compulsory Study Abroad meeting at Uni on Thursday, where I might find out if I've passed Level One and can go to Japan. It is still "might" because I'm a Joint Honours student and while the Japanese half knows it has to mark the papers before the 18th, English is not under the same constraint. If I don't find out this week, I should do by early July.
I'm on holiday with my flatmates from Uni in Ibiza for 11 days starting next Saturday, so it'll be lovely to have a nice break from everything. And above all, I need some sun!
I'm going back to Leeds on Wednesday evening for a compulsory Study Abroad meeting at Uni on Thursday, where I might find out if I've passed Level One and can go to Japan. It is still "might" because I'm a Joint Honours student and while the Japanese half knows it has to mark the papers before the 18th, English is not under the same constraint. If I don't find out this week, I should do by early July.
I'm on holiday with my flatmates from Uni in Ibiza for 11 days starting next Saturday, so it'll be lovely to have a nice break from everything. And above all, I need some sun!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Final Exams
Oh the stress! My first exam of six is this Monday, and then there's one on Tuesday, before a 10 day break, and then the other four are all in a lump, but they're less important than Japanese and English, which I have to pass to go to Japan next year as they're core modules.
I had a piece of good news two days ago, which broke up the monotony of revision nicely. My University in Japan, the International Christian University, officially accepted my application and sent me a lot of information about what I'll be studying and where I can live etc. I have to fill in a few more forms and send them back in two weeks' time.
It's really exciting! I'll be back in Tokyo in just over three months! Providing I get the grades of course... Back to revision then!
I had a piece of good news two days ago, which broke up the monotony of revision nicely. My University in Japan, the International Christian University, officially accepted my application and sent me a lot of information about what I'll be studying and where I can live etc. I have to fill in a few more forms and send them back in two weeks' time.
It's really exciting! I'll be back in Tokyo in just over three months! Providing I get the grades of course... Back to revision then!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Term Three
It's been a long time since I posted anything here, which I feel quite bad about. It's always in my mind, but last Semester was so busy, and then I was working at Cadbury World again over the month-long Easter holiday and had a grand total of 4 days off! I also turned 20 earlier this month, and it still feels very strange when I tell someone my age.
I was in London last weekend because my Mum ran the Marathon, which was an absolutely amazing experience, I was so proud of Mum for doing it! While I was there, I spoke to some of my Mum's friends who said they had been checking my blog to see if I'd posted anything new. I suppose that's spurred me on to write something!
First of all, my exam results from the exams in January were okay. I got a mixture of results across my core modules and electives, ranging from 2:2 to 1st. But of course Japanese is the important one! I got 69%, which is 1% off a 1st. I didn't find this at all annoying, because I honestly was expecting a 2:2 at best. I was so happy when I saw that mark - it gave me a boost of confidence that I think I needed, because up til then I'd been wondering if I really belonged in Intermediate Japanese.
After the results, Semester Two went well, with nothing special to report. We continued working through the textbooks in Japanese, which are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - basic grammar
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - grammar
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - kanji
And now I'm in Term Three, which is still part of Semester Two, but it's just split in half by the Easter holiday. The next set of exams is the final lot this academic year, and they are 18th May til 5th June. Unfortunately, my 6 exams (which seems to be more than anyone else has!) are spread right across those dates so I can't get them all over with at once! But I suppose it's less stressful to have gaps in between them.
This time round, I have a Japanese oral exam, so I'll be studying hard for that, as speaking and responding is my weakest point! The oral exam involves us giving a short individual speech in front of two teachers, who then ask questions afterwards. We're familiar with this format, because we've done two mini-speeches before, but they were only worth 5% each, rather than 20%!
Yesterday we had another Study Abroad Meeting, and we met a third year student who went to my Japanese University, the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, and had the opportunity to ask all the burning questions we had.
The academic year finishes straight after exams on 5th June, and then I'll be back in Birmingham, hopefully to work at Cadbury World again, because I love that job! There's one final Study Abroad Meeting in June, but I'll get the train up for the day for that. Then, if all goes well, I'll work right up to the end of summer, which is when I'll be flying back to Tokyo!
But, first things first - exams!!
I was in London last weekend because my Mum ran the Marathon, which was an absolutely amazing experience, I was so proud of Mum for doing it! While I was there, I spoke to some of my Mum's friends who said they had been checking my blog to see if I'd posted anything new. I suppose that's spurred me on to write something!
First of all, my exam results from the exams in January were okay. I got a mixture of results across my core modules and electives, ranging from 2:2 to 1st. But of course Japanese is the important one! I got 69%, which is 1% off a 1st. I didn't find this at all annoying, because I honestly was expecting a 2:2 at best. I was so happy when I saw that mark - it gave me a boost of confidence that I think I needed, because up til then I'd been wondering if I really belonged in Intermediate Japanese.
After the results, Semester Two went well, with nothing special to report. We continued working through the textbooks in Japanese, which are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - basic grammar
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - grammar
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - kanji
And now I'm in Term Three, which is still part of Semester Two, but it's just split in half by the Easter holiday. The next set of exams is the final lot this academic year, and they are 18th May til 5th June. Unfortunately, my 6 exams (which seems to be more than anyone else has!) are spread right across those dates so I can't get them all over with at once! But I suppose it's less stressful to have gaps in between them.
This time round, I have a Japanese oral exam, so I'll be studying hard for that, as speaking and responding is my weakest point! The oral exam involves us giving a short individual speech in front of two teachers, who then ask questions afterwards. We're familiar with this format, because we've done two mini-speeches before, but they were only worth 5% each, rather than 20%!
Yesterday we had another Study Abroad Meeting, and we met a third year student who went to my Japanese University, the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, and had the opportunity to ask all the burning questions we had.
The academic year finishes straight after exams on 5th June, and then I'll be back in Birmingham, hopefully to work at Cadbury World again, because I love that job! There's one final Study Abroad Meeting in June, but I'll get the train up for the day for that. Then, if all goes well, I'll work right up to the end of summer, which is when I'll be flying back to Tokyo!
But, first things first - exams!!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
My Japanese University
I found out this morning which Japanese University I have been placed in for the Year Abroad exchange program, which will start in September.
I'll be going to the International Christian University (ICU) in West Tokyo for eleven months or so. I didn't even mind that much where I was placed, I just wanted to know where I'd be going so I could arrange it in my head and start making plans.
I wanted to go to Tokyo again because when I lived there last year I felt like nowhere else would feel like home and make me feel fulfilled like Tokyo did. I enjoyed it so much, I knew I wanted to go back there. But, thinking about it now, as long as it's in Japan, anywhere would be great. I know I'll love it wherever I go.
I've been buzzing with excitement all day. I've hardly eaten anything, which is really not like me! I love the feeling of knowing where I'll be going. As long as I pass my summer exams, and nothing unforeseen happens, I'll be heading out to Japan again in late August or early September. Just in time for the end of their summer!
I'll be going to the International Christian University (ICU) in West Tokyo for eleven months or so. I didn't even mind that much where I was placed, I just wanted to know where I'd be going so I could arrange it in my head and start making plans.
I wanted to go to Tokyo again because when I lived there last year I felt like nowhere else would feel like home and make me feel fulfilled like Tokyo did. I enjoyed it so much, I knew I wanted to go back there. But, thinking about it now, as long as it's in Japan, anywhere would be great. I know I'll love it wherever I go.
I've been buzzing with excitement all day. I've hardly eaten anything, which is really not like me! I love the feeling of knowing where I'll be going. As long as I pass my summer exams, and nothing unforeseen happens, I'll be heading out to Japan again in late August or early September. Just in time for the end of their summer!
End of Exams
I had my last exam two weeks ago, which ended a fortnight of exams. I had four of them, and the first was the one I was most scared about - Japanese!
It was a two-hour exam and was comprised of a sentence completion section, Japanese-English translation, a reading comprehension, and an essay.
The hardest part for me was the reading comprehension, which we could answer in English, but it used complicated grammatical strucures and some vocabulary which I had never seen before. But the first two sections were the easiest because we knew what grammar would come up beforehand so we just had to learn what we had studied in Semester One.
My Japanese exam was different to the Basic Japanese Language exam because I'm in the Intermediate class. The students in Basic have to pass the January exam to go to a Japanese University in the second year, which made it much more stressful for them than for the students in the Intermediate group.
Overall, the exams went okay, and although I'm not expecting firsts or anything like that, I think I should have passed them all. It was very strange getting back into revision after nearly two years of break from exams, and I found it hard to write essays under exam conditions due to my lack of practice.
I should get the results for those exams within the next week or two. I keep going through phases of wanting to know and not wanting to know! I'll post about my results when I get them.
It was a two-hour exam and was comprised of a sentence completion section, Japanese-English translation, a reading comprehension, and an essay.
The hardest part for me was the reading comprehension, which we could answer in English, but it used complicated grammatical strucures and some vocabulary which I had never seen before. But the first two sections were the easiest because we knew what grammar would come up beforehand so we just had to learn what we had studied in Semester One.
My Japanese exam was different to the Basic Japanese Language exam because I'm in the Intermediate class. The students in Basic have to pass the January exam to go to a Japanese University in the second year, which made it much more stressful for them than for the students in the Intermediate group.
Overall, the exams went okay, and although I'm not expecting firsts or anything like that, I think I should have passed them all. It was very strange getting back into revision after nearly two years of break from exams, and I found it hard to write essays under exam conditions due to my lack of practice.
I should get the results for those exams within the next week or two. I keep going through phases of wanting to know and not wanting to know! I'll post about my results when I get them.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A Year Ago Today...
...I left for Japan!
That is not possible. That amazing year has just slipped away from me!
I can remember leaving my family in Heathrow so clearly, waving goodbye through the gate, as I queued for the metal detectors, for as long as I could see them. Then praying the flight would last forever, so I wouldn't actually have to land. And then the amazing feeling of seeing Japan, which I had only seen in photos or dreams, and breathing my new reality in as I left Narita Airport. One thing that has stuck in my mind is walking to customs from the gate, and stopping to go the toilet. For some reason, I was thinking that if the toilets weren't compeletely different from Britain's, and were normal, everything would be okay. How illogical is that?!
Then there was the incredible journey as I, bleary-eyed and confused, made my way across Tokyo to the Sakura House main office in the centre of Shinjuku. And after that, finding my guesthouse and collapsing onto my new bed for the next seven months of my life.
How do you fit so many memories into one day? I am overwhelmed by it. And now, finally, it starts to feel like a dream. I tell people about it and explain how I did it and what I did, and yet it doesn't feel real.
I have photos and videos of everywhere I went, and the friends I made, and the memories I keep, but it's like someone else took them and then superimposed me onto them.
And now, as I sit in my home in England revising for my exams next week, looking outside at the coldest winter Britain has had for decades (seriously, -11C!), I realise I can't wait to go back to Japan.
That's my motivation. I must pass this year of University and go back to Japan. And then I can record even more memories, and have as many new experiences as I can.
Hopefully, this time in eight months, I'll be back on a plane heading for Tokyo again. What a dream...
That is not possible. That amazing year has just slipped away from me!
I can remember leaving my family in Heathrow so clearly, waving goodbye through the gate, as I queued for the metal detectors, for as long as I could see them. Then praying the flight would last forever, so I wouldn't actually have to land. And then the amazing feeling of seeing Japan, which I had only seen in photos or dreams, and breathing my new reality in as I left Narita Airport. One thing that has stuck in my mind is walking to customs from the gate, and stopping to go the toilet. For some reason, I was thinking that if the toilets weren't compeletely different from Britain's, and were normal, everything would be okay. How illogical is that?!
Then there was the incredible journey as I, bleary-eyed and confused, made my way across Tokyo to the Sakura House main office in the centre of Shinjuku. And after that, finding my guesthouse and collapsing onto my new bed for the next seven months of my life.
How do you fit so many memories into one day? I am overwhelmed by it. And now, finally, it starts to feel like a dream. I tell people about it and explain how I did it and what I did, and yet it doesn't feel real.
I have photos and videos of everywhere I went, and the friends I made, and the memories I keep, but it's like someone else took them and then superimposed me onto them.
And now, as I sit in my home in England revising for my exams next week, looking outside at the coldest winter Britain has had for decades (seriously, -11C!), I realise I can't wait to go back to Japan.
That's my motivation. I must pass this year of University and go back to Japan. And then I can record even more memories, and have as many new experiences as I can.
Hopefully, this time in eight months, I'll be back on a plane heading for Tokyo again. What a dream...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
End of Semester One
It's been a very quick four months for me since I started at the University of Leeds this year. Everything has gone by in a blur of meeting new people, learning new things, and having new experience after new experience.
I think the most important thing is that I'm really enjoying it. It's probably difficult to judge whether you're happy or not at a certain time in your life, because there's always something that could bring you down, so it's easier to think about happiness in retrospect. But whenever I've taken a step back from everything, I've realised that I am very happy at University.
It could have gone either way, but I was so lucky with my flatmates, coursemates and lecturers/ teachers, that I enjoy every day there.
I started my Christmas holiday on 12th December, and Semester Two starts on 26th January. But there is a two-week exam period that I have to go back to Leeds for starting on 12th January.
I have four exams, one each in English and Japanese, and then the other two are my elective modules. This means that, just like in the A-level years, the Christmas holiday is not a time for resting!
I made a revision timetable and I'm trying to stick to it. It's difficult though, with relaxing with my family over Christmas, celebrating New Year, and the extreme cold! After a warm spell before Christmas, where it was nearly 10C every day, the temperature has plummeted to -4 or -5 at night, and -2 during the day. I can't remember a winter as cold as this in my life. Snow started as early as November and we've had several snowy days so far. I'm hoping that, as the last two summers in Britain have been pretty dire, the arrival of a freezing winter means that next summer will be steamy and hot. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, too much about weather perhaps! The exams are causing me stress, because I need to pass all my compulsory modules to go to Japan next year. But the pass boundary is 40% so it's quite low. I was surprised.
For anyone who doesn't know how University marking systems work, this is my understanding of it:
0-39% - fail
40-49% - third
50-59% - 2:2
60-69% - 2:1
70%+ - first.
To get the credits for a module, you simply need to pass with 40% or more, and I need at least 100 credits from the available 125 for Year 1 to go to Japan.
About two weeks before we broke up for the holiday, we had two meetings about the year abroad in Japan. I was surprised to find out that we have to do a lot of the organisation ourselves. We book, and pay for, our own flights to Japan, and have to arrange our own travel this side and in Japan. But what is good is that the University sorts out our Japanese University applications and student visas.
Also, our choice of Universities in Japan is limited because it is one of our teachers that decides where we'll go. We were given a questionnaire asking for our preferences in relation to where we want to go next academic year, although there was no space to actually write the name of the University, leaving the result very open!
I am very keen to go back to Tokyo because I enjoyed it so much last time, but I wouldn't mind if I was placed elsewhere as there might be less English and more opportunities to see new parts of Japan.
In Tokyo, there are four Universities we can be placed in; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), International Christian University (ICU), Hosei University (法政大学) and Gakushuin Women's University (学習院大学).
Being a male, Gakushuin is out of the equation, and the TUFS and ICU campuses are quite far out of the main city area in West Tokyo. However, the Hosei campus is near Shinjuku (新宿), in the dead centre of the metropolitan area.
But, I have given in the questionnaire, and should find out where I'll be going some time in February, well into Semester 2.
In Semester 1, I had to give in two assessed essays, one for South-East Asian Studies, and another for English. The English one was more important, as SE Asian Studies is an elective module, so I spent 30 hours on in. In hindsight, this wasn't necessary, but I was very worried that I had forgotten how to write an essay over my gap year so I wanted it to be good. I had to use IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), which I only knew a bit about from one of my Chinese housemates who used it to study for his English exams, but it was actually a very interesting essay to write. I will find out the marks for those essays sometime at the beginning of Semester Two.
Overall, my first semester of University has been incredible. I've made lots of new friends and learned so many new things, it's hard for me to write everything down. All I know is that I hope Semester 2 is as successful and enjoyable as the first.
This will be the last post of 2008, as it's New Year's Eve, and I will definitely be celebrating the most important year of my life so far as best I can this evening! So much has happened, I'm glad I have this blog to look back over it, because otherwise I'm sure I'd forget a lot!
Have a very happy New Year!!
I think the most important thing is that I'm really enjoying it. It's probably difficult to judge whether you're happy or not at a certain time in your life, because there's always something that could bring you down, so it's easier to think about happiness in retrospect. But whenever I've taken a step back from everything, I've realised that I am very happy at University.
It could have gone either way, but I was so lucky with my flatmates, coursemates and lecturers/ teachers, that I enjoy every day there.
I started my Christmas holiday on 12th December, and Semester Two starts on 26th January. But there is a two-week exam period that I have to go back to Leeds for starting on 12th January.
I have four exams, one each in English and Japanese, and then the other two are my elective modules. This means that, just like in the A-level years, the Christmas holiday is not a time for resting!
I made a revision timetable and I'm trying to stick to it. It's difficult though, with relaxing with my family over Christmas, celebrating New Year, and the extreme cold! After a warm spell before Christmas, where it was nearly 10C every day, the temperature has plummeted to -4 or -5 at night, and -2 during the day. I can't remember a winter as cold as this in my life. Snow started as early as November and we've had several snowy days so far. I'm hoping that, as the last two summers in Britain have been pretty dire, the arrival of a freezing winter means that next summer will be steamy and hot. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, too much about weather perhaps! The exams are causing me stress, because I need to pass all my compulsory modules to go to Japan next year. But the pass boundary is 40% so it's quite low. I was surprised.
For anyone who doesn't know how University marking systems work, this is my understanding of it:
0-39% - fail
40-49% - third
50-59% - 2:2
60-69% - 2:1
70%+ - first.
To get the credits for a module, you simply need to pass with 40% or more, and I need at least 100 credits from the available 125 for Year 1 to go to Japan.
About two weeks before we broke up for the holiday, we had two meetings about the year abroad in Japan. I was surprised to find out that we have to do a lot of the organisation ourselves. We book, and pay for, our own flights to Japan, and have to arrange our own travel this side and in Japan. But what is good is that the University sorts out our Japanese University applications and student visas.
Also, our choice of Universities in Japan is limited because it is one of our teachers that decides where we'll go. We were given a questionnaire asking for our preferences in relation to where we want to go next academic year, although there was no space to actually write the name of the University, leaving the result very open!
I am very keen to go back to Tokyo because I enjoyed it so much last time, but I wouldn't mind if I was placed elsewhere as there might be less English and more opportunities to see new parts of Japan.
In Tokyo, there are four Universities we can be placed in; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), International Christian University (ICU), Hosei University (法政大学) and Gakushuin Women's University (学習院大学).
Being a male, Gakushuin is out of the equation, and the TUFS and ICU campuses are quite far out of the main city area in West Tokyo. However, the Hosei campus is near Shinjuku (新宿), in the dead centre of the metropolitan area.
But, I have given in the questionnaire, and should find out where I'll be going some time in February, well into Semester 2.
In Semester 1, I had to give in two assessed essays, one for South-East Asian Studies, and another for English. The English one was more important, as SE Asian Studies is an elective module, so I spent 30 hours on in. In hindsight, this wasn't necessary, but I was very worried that I had forgotten how to write an essay over my gap year so I wanted it to be good. I had to use IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), which I only knew a bit about from one of my Chinese housemates who used it to study for his English exams, but it was actually a very interesting essay to write. I will find out the marks for those essays sometime at the beginning of Semester Two.
Overall, my first semester of University has been incredible. I've made lots of new friends and learned so many new things, it's hard for me to write everything down. All I know is that I hope Semester 2 is as successful and enjoyable as the first.
This will be the last post of 2008, as it's New Year's Eve, and I will definitely be celebrating the most important year of my life so far as best I can this evening! So much has happened, I'm glad I have this blog to look back over it, because otherwise I'm sure I'd forget a lot!
Have a very happy New Year!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Japanese at The University Of Leeds
I am now three weeks into studying English & Japanese at University. My family drove me up to Leeds on Saturday 20th.
I was very sad to say goodbye to them that evening, but there was none of the nervous anxiety that should have accompanied that day, because I knew I was just up the road from them. Three hours driving doesn't compare to twelve hours flying in any way.
I settled in quite quickly, and Freshers' Week was lots of fun. It was much less partying, and more sorting things out and getting used to the campus and the residence, than I expected. But that's fine for me. Although I did go out a few times of course!
On Monday 22nd, I had to take a Japanese placement test with other first-years who had prior knowledge of Japanese. That was a bit stressful, having a full-on hour-long test on the first proper day, but it wasn't too bad in the end. Several people did get up and leave the exam in the middle of it, because they decided it was too difficult. I felt for them because my reaction to the first page was: aargh!
The test was comprised of a grammar section, two translation sections; English to Japanese and vice versa, and a composition essay. The grammar was definitely the hardest part for me, because, being self-taught, I don't have a great amount of knowledge of how the sentences are put together, but the translation wasn't too bad. The English-Japanese was easier because if you don't know a word's direct translation, you can paraphrase it or use a similar term, but if you couldn't read the Japanese, then there was no way you could put it into English.
In the essay I just wrote about myself, because it was a 自己紹介 (self-introduction), and I said about my trip to Japan and my favourite Japanese bands and things like that.
I found out if I passed the next morning, and I did. They didn't give me any feedback, but other people were told if they only just passed, or if they passed with flying colours, or whatever.
They say that if you're a borderline pass, then they let you go through and see how you do then. If you pass the placement test, you go into an Intermediate class.
My class has about 10 people in it, but the number varies from lesson to lesson for the first two weeks, because that's the 'trial period' where they judge if you're good enough to stay in or not. It wasn't as big a deal as I expected though, and at the end of the two weeks they just told us to buy the Intermediate textbooks and that was it.
The Intermediate textbooks are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - this book revises all the grammar you're meant to know for the course
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - this is the general textbook to work through
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - the only Minna no Nihongo textbook the Intermediate class uses is the one devoted to the next lot of kanji. You are expected to know the 200 or so taught in the first of this series, and this adds an extra 300 to that.
The other people in my class all seem to have spent a year in Japan, or done A-level Japanese, or both, which is scary. With most of them, if you don't look at them while they speak, you could actually think they were Japanese. There's no way my speaking is that good. In fact, I do feel like I'm towards the bottom of the group because they all have formal learning experience, but the teachers seem to think that I can manage it. If anyone does find it really difficult later on in the course, we can move down into the Beginner group.
I feel that my level is somewhere between the Beginner and Intermediate classes, but it's much better to be stretched and challenged, than to be bored out of your mind learning the alphabets I've know since I was 14.
I do have friends in the Beginner group, and they say that it's all pretty basic at the moment, but obviously very intensive. The aim is to get everyone to A-level standard by Semester 2 (which starts in January/ February).
The Beginner class is made up of most of the year-group, (in fact, there are 2 or 3 Beginner classes) which this year is about 30-40, one of the biggest years they've ever had apparently. They study from the みんなの日本語 (Minna no Nihongo) textbooks. They move quickly, studying the first set in Semester 1, and the second in Semester 2. That means that the books are extremely expensive (I only had the three to buy for Intermediate, and they came to £75 in total). The best deal I can find, and others have said the same, is The Japan Centre in Piccadilly Circus, London. You can order books and lots of other things online. They seem to have most of the Minna no Nihongo series in stock, but not the Intermediate ones.
Except for one new teacher, all of the teachers are native Japanese. This is great because it means you can be exposed to real Japanese all through the lessons and seminars.
I have also joined the Japanese society, which costs £4 for the year, and they do lots of events like karaoke, which of course I love. Also, there are lots of Japanese exchange students (留学生, ryuugakusei) who are members, who are happy to practise Japanese and English with you.
If anyone is thinking of doing this course, or applying to Leeds University, I really recommend it!
I took these photos around Leeds on a particularly lovely day.
I was very sad to say goodbye to them that evening, but there was none of the nervous anxiety that should have accompanied that day, because I knew I was just up the road from them. Three hours driving doesn't compare to twelve hours flying in any way.
I settled in quite quickly, and Freshers' Week was lots of fun. It was much less partying, and more sorting things out and getting used to the campus and the residence, than I expected. But that's fine for me. Although I did go out a few times of course!
On Monday 22nd, I had to take a Japanese placement test with other first-years who had prior knowledge of Japanese. That was a bit stressful, having a full-on hour-long test on the first proper day, but it wasn't too bad in the end. Several people did get up and leave the exam in the middle of it, because they decided it was too difficult. I felt for them because my reaction to the first page was: aargh!
The test was comprised of a grammar section, two translation sections; English to Japanese and vice versa, and a composition essay. The grammar was definitely the hardest part for me, because, being self-taught, I don't have a great amount of knowledge of how the sentences are put together, but the translation wasn't too bad. The English-Japanese was easier because if you don't know a word's direct translation, you can paraphrase it or use a similar term, but if you couldn't read the Japanese, then there was no way you could put it into English.
In the essay I just wrote about myself, because it was a 自己紹介 (self-introduction), and I said about my trip to Japan and my favourite Japanese bands and things like that.
I found out if I passed the next morning, and I did. They didn't give me any feedback, but other people were told if they only just passed, or if they passed with flying colours, or whatever.
They say that if you're a borderline pass, then they let you go through and see how you do then. If you pass the placement test, you go into an Intermediate class.
My class has about 10 people in it, but the number varies from lesson to lesson for the first two weeks, because that's the 'trial period' where they judge if you're good enough to stay in or not. It wasn't as big a deal as I expected though, and at the end of the two weeks they just told us to buy the Intermediate textbooks and that was it.
The Intermediate textbooks are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - this book revises all the grammar you're meant to know for the course
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - this is the general textbook to work through
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - the only Minna no Nihongo textbook the Intermediate class uses is the one devoted to the next lot of kanji. You are expected to know the 200 or so taught in the first of this series, and this adds an extra 300 to that.
The other people in my class all seem to have spent a year in Japan, or done A-level Japanese, or both, which is scary. With most of them, if you don't look at them while they speak, you could actually think they were Japanese. There's no way my speaking is that good. In fact, I do feel like I'm towards the bottom of the group because they all have formal learning experience, but the teachers seem to think that I can manage it. If anyone does find it really difficult later on in the course, we can move down into the Beginner group.
I feel that my level is somewhere between the Beginner and Intermediate classes, but it's much better to be stretched and challenged, than to be bored out of your mind learning the alphabets I've know since I was 14.
I do have friends in the Beginner group, and they say that it's all pretty basic at the moment, but obviously very intensive. The aim is to get everyone to A-level standard by Semester 2 (which starts in January/ February).
The Beginner class is made up of most of the year-group, (in fact, there are 2 or 3 Beginner classes) which this year is about 30-40, one of the biggest years they've ever had apparently. They study from the みんなの日本語 (Minna no Nihongo) textbooks. They move quickly, studying the first set in Semester 1, and the second in Semester 2. That means that the books are extremely expensive (I only had the three to buy for Intermediate, and they came to £75 in total). The best deal I can find, and others have said the same, is The Japan Centre in Piccadilly Circus, London. You can order books and lots of other things online. They seem to have most of the Minna no Nihongo series in stock, but not the Intermediate ones.
Except for one new teacher, all of the teachers are native Japanese. This is great because it means you can be exposed to real Japanese all through the lessons and seminars.
I have also joined the Japanese society, which costs £4 for the year, and they do lots of events like karaoke, which of course I love. Also, there are lots of Japanese exchange students (留学生, ryuugakusei) who are members, who are happy to practise Japanese and English with you.
The only real lecture I have is Japan Inside-Out once a week, in which we study the geography, history, literature etc. of Japan. It's really interesting so far. In fact, all of University has been amazing. It's such a great experience, meeting new people and studying new things. But of course it's a lot of work, last weekend I spent 9 hours studying on Saturday, and then 6 hours on Sunday, and still hadn't finished what I had to do. But then my flatmates and I made a gorgeous roast dinner, which we had shopping for and then split the cost of. It was so good. Proof that students don't just live off beans and toast!
The only warning that comes with the course is that if you are in the Beginner class and don't pass the Semester One exam in January, you can't go to Japan as an exchange student in the second year. And of course, you have to pass the year to progress to year two. Intermediate students don't have to pass a particular exam, but they must pass the year's compulsory modules with at least 100 credits.If anyone is thinking of doing this course, or applying to Leeds University, I really recommend it!
I took these photos around Leeds on a particularly lovely day.
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